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A review by lilacverses
Repeat After Me by Jessica Warman
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book is certainly a lot. It is also certainly YA, while also definitely not being YA. It never got as graphic as I was expecting it to get with the content warnings and tonal cues in the blurb and other marketing materials. It definitely gets dark and strange and then stranger. Overall I think it’s generally leaning optimistic and lighthearted. It really embraces the freedom of nihilism. Yes, there is sexual content, but none of it is graphic sex (ie, on the page intercourse), and almost all of it is graphic. It’s giving Teen Movie staring Chris Evans, Margot Robbie, and that actress who plays Meredith’s little sister on Grey’s. (Based on the ten minutes of that movie I made it through.)
That said, it is also perhaps not best written as a YA? The pacing perhaps could’ve been slowed or the page count upped so we could actually dig in to the themes and topics and help them feel fully explored. This felt more like skipping stones over them. We touched, but never for long. Aging it up might also have made the time aspect resonate more? As a teenager I felt like my life was endlessly ahead of me. Now, mere five years later, I feel geriatric. I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster through life; this is my new speed. If I found myself stopped, I think the panic/relief cocktail would hit different.
However, I actually really liked the pacing! This book was so easy to read. It was almost addictive! I couldn’t put it down. I found an afternoon to myself and read 60% almost completely uninterrupted. This also goes back to how light it was, in an interesting contrast to the horror the characters feel over their situation.
I also found the characters to be really age-accurate. They were impulsive, focused on all the wrong things, trying to solve their coming of age dilemmas in all the wrong ways. It was frustrating and heartwarming. I probably wouldn’t be flattered if I was a teen, but this is a satire, and also looking back I get it. It’s not necessarily as satirical as we want to believe.
I do think the worldbuilding could’ve done with like. A couple more paragraphs and sentences. I really did want to figure out the rules of the time loop, the scheme being played out, the discoveries at hand. I was interested. I’m down to suspend belief that the octopus is immortal and telepathic, but I want to know her more! Is she god? I almost felt obligated to research octopi or read Remarkably Bright Creatures afterwards seeking answers.
I also … I don’t want to say too much but the romance in this was really sweet and beautiful and so wholesomely written, truly something lovely, but it was crammed in the back half of the book. I think this is more of a time loop problem than a pacing issue—again this story just flew through its pages, not too fast or too slow. To establish the hellish monotony we have to see snippets of days, and also to see any character growth we have to see changes in the days. This makes it really hard to get the concentration of events perfectly balanced. But it definitely sweetened the ending. And it also had decent build up! I just loved the end for them and could’ve lived in that more.
Also the book was presented like it would be about one central character, and it was, but it also was a lot about the other characters there. Multiple POV, not one pov like I had been expecting based on the synopsis. Not bad at all! In fact quite nice to get a larger picture of the characters and their world. Just wasn’t expecting it.
All in all, I think if you read the synopsis (uh oh! ate an immortal octopus and got stuck in a time loop the night I try to lose my virginity!) and read the content warnings, you’ll be prepared to be delightfully surprised by this book. It is actually quite sweet. Despite the crass humour and zany set-up. It also very enjoyable to read, with an effortless style that feels natural, casual, and … human. Teen. It’s very real-person-talking-to-you. In a really fun way.
That said, it is also perhaps not best written as a YA? The pacing perhaps could’ve been slowed or the page count upped so we could actually dig in to the themes and topics and help them feel fully explored. This felt more like skipping stones over them. We touched, but never for long. Aging it up might also have made the time aspect resonate more? As a teenager I felt like my life was endlessly ahead of me. Now, mere five years later, I feel geriatric. I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster through life; this is my new speed. If I found myself stopped, I think the panic/relief cocktail would hit different.
However, I actually really liked the pacing! This book was so easy to read. It was almost addictive! I couldn’t put it down. I found an afternoon to myself and read 60% almost completely uninterrupted. This also goes back to how light it was, in an interesting contrast to the horror the characters feel over their situation.
I also found the characters to be really age-accurate. They were impulsive, focused on all the wrong things, trying to solve their coming of age dilemmas in all the wrong ways. It was frustrating and heartwarming. I probably wouldn’t be flattered if I was a teen, but this is a satire, and also looking back I get it. It’s not necessarily as satirical as we want to believe.
I do think the worldbuilding could’ve done with like. A couple more paragraphs and sentences. I really did want to figure out the rules of the time loop, the scheme being played out, the discoveries at hand. I was interested. I’m down to suspend belief that the octopus is immortal and telepathic, but I want to know her more! Is she god? I almost felt obligated to research octopi or read Remarkably Bright Creatures afterwards seeking answers.
I also … I don’t want to say too much but the romance in this was really sweet and beautiful and so wholesomely written, truly something lovely, but it was crammed in the back half of the book. I think this is more of a time loop problem than a pacing issue—again this story just flew through its pages, not too fast or too slow. To establish the hellish monotony we have to see snippets of days, and also to see any character growth we have to see changes in the days. This makes it really hard to get the concentration of events perfectly balanced. But it definitely sweetened the ending. And it also had decent build up! I just loved the end for them and could’ve lived in that more.
Also the book was presented like it would be about one central character, and it was, but it also was a lot about the other characters there. Multiple POV, not one pov like I had been expecting based on the synopsis. Not bad at all! In fact quite nice to get a larger picture of the characters and their world. Just wasn’t expecting it.
All in all, I think if you read the synopsis (uh oh! ate an immortal octopus and got stuck in a time loop the night I try to lose my virginity!) and read the content warnings, you’ll be prepared to be delightfully surprised by this book. It is actually quite sweet. Despite the crass humour and zany set-up. It also very enjoyable to read, with an effortless style that feels natural, casual, and … human. Teen. It’s very real-person-talking-to-you. In a really fun way.