You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
jenche 's review for:
You Between the Lines
by Katie Naymon
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i had a love/hate relationship with this book. i found leigh to be both infuriating and relatable in equal parts. she is Not Like Other MFA Students bc she…is a girly girl and likes taylor swift? most of the book is about her grappling with her imposter syndrome, which ok i guess, but she seems to barely respect the discipline of poetry beyond what she likes and wants to do. but also her poetry for most of the book is like…not good??
for all the whining she does about straight white men (as a straight white woman!!!), this novel does absolutely nothing to grapple with race OR gender in the arts. i kept thinking this would’ve been so much better if leigh was a woc or at least if her position as a middle class white woman was ever addressed at all. (and obviously she has to get with the straight white male love interest) also hazel randomly being revealed to us to be asian like 3/4 of the way through made their whole dynamic and leigh’s jealousy so weird in retrospect lol
as for the romance, i found it hard to believe these two were really thinking about each other over ten years when the shared one class in high school and only spoke once. their conflict feels believable but gets old as the same issues are rehashed over the book. but some of the moments are truly swoon worthy and sometimes the language is beautiful as well. will was a sweet love interest and i liked them writing about each other, passing notes in class, etc. i also liked leigh’s final poem (and it did the job of being her best and most vulnerable), and how it was the only one we see her reading aloud vs her classmates reading her other poems. so overall a decently sweet romance but the fmc was a bit insufferable
for all the whining she does about straight white men (as a straight white woman!!!), this novel does absolutely nothing to grapple with race OR gender in the arts. i kept thinking this would’ve been so much better if leigh was a woc or at least if her position as a middle class white woman was ever addressed at all. (and obviously she has to get with the straight white male love interest) also hazel randomly being revealed to us to be asian like 3/4 of the way through made their whole dynamic and leigh’s jealousy so weird in retrospect lol
as for the romance, i found it hard to believe these two were really thinking about each other over ten years when the shared one class in high school and only spoke once. their conflict feels believable but gets old as the same issues are rehashed over the book. but some of the moments are truly swoon worthy and sometimes the language is beautiful as well. will was a sweet love interest and i liked them writing about each other, passing notes in class, etc. i also liked leigh’s final poem (and it did the job of being her best and most vulnerable), and how it was the only one we see her reading aloud vs her classmates reading her other poems. so overall a decently sweet romance but the fmc was a bit insufferable