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A review by nataliestorozhenko
One for My Enemy by Olivie Blake
4.0
“Hate and love were so very similar. Both were intestinal, visceral. Both left scars, vestiges of pain. Hate could not be born from a place of indifference. Hate was only born from opposite sides of the same coin.”
There were several issues with the book, and many parts of the plot did not make sense. The story was chaotic, and by the end of it, I felt quite fatigued. It seemed like we spent too much time in The Bridge's office, and the story felt like a psychologist's tale about counseling two crazy, interlinked families. It was hard to understand how characters could have such fierce devotion to their families, yet do the worst things to them. And why giving Baba Yaga so many daughters in the story when basically there were mostly mentioned only two, plus the twins that were convenient for the whole "revival" moment, but not more.
However, I am biased and for some reason, I seem to enjoy Olivie Blake's writing a lot. I love being in her head and seeing her unique ideas take shape. I enjoy her wit, her interesting, lyrical, poetic, and sometimes hilarious writing, which includes a lot of banter (although occasionally some cringy dialogues too). I also appreciate the way she meticulously structures her books. It brings me a lot of pleasure to see the way she organizes each act, chapter, and paragraph. I think that if I were talented enough to write literature, my brain would try to build similar structures like shelves. Does that make sense?
There were several issues with the book, and many parts of the plot did not make sense. The story was chaotic, and by the end of it, I felt quite fatigued. It seemed like we spent too much time in The Bridge's office, and the story felt like a psychologist's tale about counseling two crazy, interlinked families. It was hard to understand how characters could have such fierce devotion to their families, yet do the worst things to them. And why giving Baba Yaga so many daughters in the story when basically there were mostly mentioned only two, plus the twins that were convenient for the whole "revival" moment, but not more.
However, I am biased and for some reason, I seem to enjoy Olivie Blake's writing a lot. I love being in her head and seeing her unique ideas take shape. I enjoy her wit, her interesting, lyrical, poetic, and sometimes hilarious writing, which includes a lot of banter (although occasionally some cringy dialogues too). I also appreciate the way she meticulously structures her books. It brings me a lot of pleasure to see the way she organizes each act, chapter, and paragraph. I think that if I were talented enough to write literature, my brain would try to build similar structures like shelves. Does that make sense?