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A review by zluvsreading
The Complex Art of Being Maisie Clark by Sabrina Kleckner
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This novel was everything and I want to tell you why.
So we have Maisie Clark, an 18-year old artist who has been doing art for as long as she can remember. However, now she’s moving to London to university to study art, but not portraits because she feels like she needs to find herself and that means trying new things and discovering her art away from her dad (whose art she can’t tell the difference between hers and his).
London also has her brother and his boyfriend there so she’s not completely alone.
I really enjoyed the family dynamics in this and the friendships/relationships. They felt so real and raw and I liked that things were said bluntly and Maisie's inner dialogue was just so funny. She is what it means to be a teenager moving abroad to study in another country!
I really loved London as the setting, along with their small town in New York. I also loved the characters in this.
Maisie felt so relatable, but was also frustrating at times which yeah. She was known to be “a lot” but that doesn’t necessarily make her a bad person.
I liked how her and Eli balanced each other out. The scenes between them were hilarious and awkward, I loved them!! I am happy with how their story turned out and for everything that happened in between.
Calum was the older brother, by quite a large margin but I could also relate and understand that sort of relationship as I also have an older sibling that is 10 years my senior. As soon as I read that, I was like “oh yeah I’m going to love this book.” And I do! It’s just really fun, but also about discovering yourself, distinct art styles, family dynamics, and a little bit of romance thrown in there.
I definitely would be interested in reading the novel that came before this, that depicts Maisie when she was 12 instead of 18. I gravitated towards this because of the age of the main character, but now that I sort of see who she has grown into, it’d be interesting to read about how she used to be.
The character arcs in this were amazing. Maisie grew so much, not only in herself but understanding her art that was great to see.
Overall, a very YA college, funny, artsy, book that I had fun reading!
Thank you to Flux Books for the auto-approval via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
So we have Maisie Clark, an 18-year old artist who has been doing art for as long as she can remember. However, now she’s moving to London to university to study art, but not portraits because she feels like she needs to find herself and that means trying new things and discovering her art away from her dad (whose art she can’t tell the difference between hers and his).
London also has her brother and his boyfriend there so she’s not completely alone.
I really enjoyed the family dynamics in this and the friendships/relationships. They felt so real and raw and I liked that things were said bluntly and Maisie's inner dialogue was just so funny. She is what it means to be a teenager moving abroad to study in another country!
I really loved London as the setting, along with their small town in New York. I also loved the characters in this.
Maisie felt so relatable, but was also frustrating at times which yeah. She was known to be “a lot” but that doesn’t necessarily make her a bad person.
I liked how her and Eli balanced each other out. The scenes between them were hilarious and awkward, I loved them!! I am happy with how their story turned out and for everything that happened in between.
Calum was the older brother, by quite a large margin but I could also relate and understand that sort of relationship as I also have an older sibling that is 10 years my senior. As soon as I read that, I was like “oh yeah I’m going to love this book.” And I do! It’s just really fun, but also about discovering yourself, distinct art styles, family dynamics, and a little bit of romance thrown in there.
I definitely would be interested in reading the novel that came before this, that depicts Maisie when she was 12 instead of 18. I gravitated towards this because of the age of the main character, but now that I sort of see who she has grown into, it’d be interesting to read about how she used to be.
The character arcs in this were amazing. Maisie grew so much, not only in herself but understanding her art that was great to see.
Overall, a very YA college, funny, artsy, book that I had fun reading!
Thank you to Flux Books for the auto-approval via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.