Scan barcode
A review by fatimareadsbooks
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
2.0
I hate being in the minority, but this was so utterly boring. I couldn’t care less about any of the characters, and the story drags on for way too long. I had to force myself to finish this.
My biggest gripe is the juvenile writing style. The story jumps from place to place, and I had to go back and reread certain scenes. The dialogue feels like a combo of 2017 Tumblr and Twitter - way too corny. Also, the numerous pop culture references are superficial and shoved in. I usually have a high tolerance for cheesiness, but this is over the top.
The politics shouldn’t have taken up this much space in the story. I’m not even going to get into it, but the US propaganda and the glorification of the American two-party system were annoying to read. (@ the Israel line…. #FreePalestine). Also, the political terminology confused me.
Ultimately, I feel like this book tries and fails to tackle a bunch of topics (race, sexuality etc.). The book even tries to masquerade as witty and intellectual at times, despite being a romcom - just embrace the lighthearted romantic comedy vibes! The end result is an amalgamation of ideas that fail to coalesce into a cohesive plot.
In spite of its shortcomings, the book does offer moments of genuine humor and lightheartedness, especially in the last 30%. Alex and Henry’s romance (despite having no buildup and not actually being enemies to lovers) was cute.
Overall, I wanted to like this so bad, but alas it wasn’t for me.
My biggest gripe is the juvenile writing style. The story jumps from place to place, and I had to go back and reread certain scenes. The dialogue feels like a combo of 2017 Tumblr and Twitter - way too corny. Also, the numerous pop culture references are superficial and shoved in. I usually have a high tolerance for cheesiness, but this is over the top.
The politics shouldn’t have taken up this much space in the story. I’m not even going to get into it, but the US propaganda and the glorification of the American two-party system were annoying to read. (@ the Israel line…. #FreePalestine). Also, the political terminology confused me.
Ultimately, I feel like this book tries and fails to tackle a bunch of topics (race, sexuality etc.). The book even tries to masquerade as witty and intellectual at times, despite being a romcom - just embrace the lighthearted romantic comedy vibes! The end result is an amalgamation of ideas that fail to coalesce into a cohesive plot.
In spite of its shortcomings, the book does offer moments of genuine humor and lightheartedness, especially in the last 30%. Alex and Henry’s romance (despite having no buildup and not actually being enemies to lovers) was cute.
Overall, I wanted to like this so bad, but alas it wasn’t for me.