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A review by abbier_14
Before We Were Strangers by Renée Carlino
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
This put me in a reading slump for a month...
Ok so unlike most reviews i hated it from the start (grated i did start reading this a month ago so my memory might be hazy). I hated the caricature type character his boss was, and how Matts attitude had this kinda holier than thou vibe which i knew i was gonna hate.
I NEED to stop reading about broke artsy students who live in NYC because there is obviously something about the way these types of characters are written than annoys me.
Ok so this is a little hard to summarise so im gonna start with talking about the characters in their college days seperately and then things will merge when i talk about when they are old:
Grace is incredibly meek and feels very immature in this story. She gets walked all over but then is terrible at making decisions for herself.
I think the main thing i didnt really get was her whole reason for being in college and her motivations in the first place. So she says she wants to get a postgrad degree....in music....
Ok im sorry if im being ignorant but Grace comes from an EXTREMELY poor family (convenient plot point to gain sympathy points imo but whatever, its never really bought up exept from the fact she cant afford a cello bow), and it doesnt sound like grace had any savings herself so i really don't get how getting herself into more debt would be something she would do? Or if she did want to get those higher qualifications then maybe dont pick music? Also is NYU the best place to go for music?, surely there are specialised colleges that are not in a HCOL area as NYC that would be 10x as better for her to go to
OMG the thing that was most frustrating though is that she is offered a place on this amazing opportunity to travel europe on a music tour, and she was about to leave it all behind due to her stupid little college boyfriend (and money but instead she was gonna go into grad school so like i said i dont get her here). If she was smart and had any sort of forward thinking she would realise how this europe trip is extremely useful for experience and getting jobs and networking, but she was just gonna throw it away for stuff that will be extremely insignificant in comparasion.
Matt (almost called him mark oops) is gross. Definitely a 'nice guy' if that helps you to get what i mean. Hes an indie guy who takes pretentious pictures and wears 'a t-shirt, jeans, and chucks' at all times. Vom.
Hes also from a very wealthy family which he obviously thinks hes better than becauses hes more "self aware" to his privledge and doesnt accept it as much as his other family does. 😐🙄
I didnt save the quote because i only highlight good things on my kindle but he said something like "our messy lives" or something like that and honestly it almost pushed me over the edge. He is from a wealthy family, about to graduate from a prestigious school, and has an internship secured for the national geographic... but yeah your life is god awful just because your rich dad prefers your older brother
Thankfully unlike grace he doesnt think twice about taking the internship, but then he doesnt tell anyone about it? not even the girl hes dating... talk about psycho behaviour.
So the internship was 6 weeks, SIX WEEKS was all Grace had to wait to see her boyfriend again and they were honestly overreacting like it was gonna destroy their whole lives. They should be embarrased ngl
One thing i didnt understand was why Matt didnt try harder to communicate with grace when he was on his trip. He was prioritsing calling his mum as he got like a phone call a week or something, but why not alternate. Or ask his mum to pass on a message. Dunno it just didnt sound like he valued their relationship very much to preserve it.
Grace and Matt had this weird jealously overprotective thing going on and i cant be bothered to go into detail but just know it was included and annoying
Ok now onto their adult lives:
Grace is now a teacher at a highschool. I guess that masters degree didnt lead to anywhere useful.
Matt still works at the national geographic but in the online department?, so not taking pictures anymore.
Grace was married to the creepy professor that kept hitting on here during college.
Grace and matt have a kid together, that matt doesnt know about. honestly when i read that my eyeballs almost went back into my brain i was soooo fed up at that point. Also the fact that Grace was staying a virgin so she ddidnt follow in her mothers footsteps of having a baby young and then thats exactly what she did... laughable.
So the reason Matt doesnt know is because his (Ex)wife kept deleting the voice mails and letters that grace was sending. But im sorry she must have not been trying very hard as i think it would be extremely easy to reach Matt seeing as he was a famous photographer and probably had assistants or a work email she could go through that his wife didnt have access too...
Also another thing she wanted to contact him for was literally government buissness, surely she could have gotten help reaching out to him if she really wanted to.
Same thing goes with Matt, they were apparantly sooo in love but they he didnt even try to find her when he got back, just somehow moved on super quickly and forgetting about it instantly.
Matt was sooooooooo casual and calm about the fact he had an unknown daughter. He was kinda just like oh ok and then just spoke to her and met up with her as if he knew her her whole life
Side note but i HATE when teenagers are written in books. Their dialogue always sucks and is unrealistic but its just written off as "omg our teenager is just so smart and unlike girls her age", no the author just sucks at writing teenagers. It was so cringy and horrible i hated Matts interactions with her.
And then the ending is just rushed, cliche, and awful. Honestly most of the book is just them kissing and ya know and its honestly not worth reading because it lasts like 2 seconds each time lmfao.
But their reconnection is also anticlimactic, it didnt fill be with emotion and i wasnt happy for them at all.
Good for them i guess?
Ok so unlike most reviews i hated it from the start (grated i did start reading this a month ago so my memory might be hazy). I hated the caricature type character his boss was, and how Matts attitude had this kinda holier than thou vibe which i knew i was gonna hate.
I NEED to stop reading about broke artsy students who live in NYC because there is obviously something about the way these types of characters are written than annoys me.
Ok so this is a little hard to summarise so im gonna start with talking about the characters in their college days seperately and then things will merge when i talk about when they are old:
Grace is incredibly meek and feels very immature in this story. She gets walked all over but then is terrible at making decisions for herself.
I think the main thing i didnt really get was her whole reason for being in college and her motivations in the first place. So she says she wants to get a postgrad degree....in music....
Ok im sorry if im being ignorant but Grace comes from an EXTREMELY poor family (convenient plot point to gain sympathy points imo but whatever, its never really bought up exept from the fact she cant afford a cello bow), and it doesnt sound like grace had any savings herself so i really don't get how getting herself into more debt would be something she would do? Or if she did want to get those higher qualifications then maybe dont pick music? Also is NYU the best place to go for music?, surely there are specialised colleges that are not in a HCOL area as NYC that would be 10x as better for her to go to
OMG the thing that was most frustrating though is that she is offered a place on this amazing opportunity to travel europe on a music tour, and she was about to leave it all behind due to her stupid little college boyfriend (and money but instead she was gonna go into grad school so like i said i dont get her here). If she was smart and had any sort of forward thinking she would realise how this europe trip is extremely useful for experience and getting jobs and networking, but she was just gonna throw it away for stuff that will be extremely insignificant in comparasion.
Matt (almost called him mark oops) is gross. Definitely a 'nice guy' if that helps you to get what i mean. Hes an indie guy who takes pretentious pictures and wears 'a t-shirt, jeans, and chucks' at all times. Vom.
Hes also from a very wealthy family which he obviously thinks hes better than becauses hes more "self aware" to his privledge and doesnt accept it as much as his other family does. 😐🙄
I didnt save the quote because i only highlight good things on my kindle but he said something like "our messy lives" or something like that and honestly it almost pushed me over the edge. He is from a wealthy family, about to graduate from a prestigious school, and has an internship secured for the national geographic... but yeah your life is god awful just because your rich dad prefers your older brother
Thankfully unlike grace he doesnt think twice about taking the internship, but then he doesnt tell anyone about it? not even the girl hes dating... talk about psycho behaviour.
So the internship was 6 weeks, SIX WEEKS was all Grace had to wait to see her boyfriend again and they were honestly overreacting like it was gonna destroy their whole lives. They should be embarrased ngl
One thing i didnt understand was why Matt didnt try harder to communicate with grace when he was on his trip. He was prioritsing calling his mum as he got like a phone call a week or something, but why not alternate. Or ask his mum to pass on a message. Dunno it just didnt sound like he valued their relationship very much to preserve it.
Grace and Matt had this weird jealously overprotective thing going on and i cant be bothered to go into detail but just know it was included and annoying
Ok now onto their adult lives:
Grace is now a teacher at a highschool. I guess that masters degree didnt lead to anywhere useful.
Matt still works at the national geographic but in the online department?, so not taking pictures anymore.
Grace was married to the creepy professor that kept hitting on here during college.
Grace and matt have a kid together, that matt doesnt know about. honestly when i read that my eyeballs almost went back into my brain i was soooo fed up at that point. Also the fact that Grace was staying a virgin so she ddidnt follow in her mothers footsteps of having a baby young and then thats exactly what she did... laughable.
So the reason Matt doesnt know is because his (Ex)wife kept deleting the voice mails and letters that grace was sending. But im sorry she must have not been trying very hard as i think it would be extremely easy to reach Matt seeing as he was a famous photographer and probably had assistants or a work email she could go through that his wife didnt have access too...
Also another thing she wanted to contact him for was literally government buissness, surely she could have gotten help reaching out to him if she really wanted to.
Same thing goes with Matt, they were apparantly sooo in love but they he didnt even try to find her when he got back, just somehow moved on super quickly and forgetting about it instantly.
Matt was sooooooooo casual and calm about the fact he had an unknown daughter. He was kinda just like oh ok and then just spoke to her and met up with her as if he knew her her whole life
Side note but i HATE when teenagers are written in books. Their dialogue always sucks and is unrealistic but its just written off as "omg our teenager is just so smart and unlike girls her age", no the author just sucks at writing teenagers. It was so cringy and horrible i hated Matts interactions with her.
And then the ending is just rushed, cliche, and awful. Honestly most of the book is just them kissing and ya know and its honestly not worth reading because it lasts like 2 seconds each time lmfao.
But their reconnection is also anticlimactic, it didnt fill be with emotion and i wasnt happy for them at all.
Good for them i guess?