leloomi 's review for:

Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou

4.25

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I’m completely unfamiliar with the story of Bluebeard so I’m sure I didn’t get as much out of this as I could have. Despite that, and the fact that this is not something I would usually read, I enjoyed it a good bit. This format (bits of second-person, the theatrical inserts, flipping between reality and fairytale) I would usually find very very cheesy and gimmicky but it worked for me for the most part surprisingly. My one big issue was just the repetition of the saaame plot beats and the saaame metaphors and the saaame motifs, but I guess that was kind of the point in some parts. Still, the amount of times I read the words “cherry”, “leaves”, and “soil” was astounding. Initially I was going to say that the hand-holding felt excessive, (we understood that this was about an abusive relationship the moment we read the synopsis, no need to over-explain) but there’s a good few reviews on this that STILL didn’t understand it…? somehow? girl idk