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A review by stephxsu
Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers
4.0
You want to know why Courtney Summers is a must-buy? Because she can take any topic—even a riskily overexposed one such as the death of a loved one—and write about it in such a way that sucks you in and makes you feel like this is the first time you’ve ever read about that topic before. So yes, that’s what FALL FOR ANYTHING does with grief, wrapped up in beautiful descriptions of art photography and and nail-biting mystery.
Courtney Summers has nearly unmatched talent with developing three-dimensional characters using her trademark sparse prose. Even with this tight prose, there is never a moment when she just comes right out and tells us something about the characters and their relationships with one another. Instead, the characters’ issues, histories, and desires are allowed to unfold on their own. It is in this way that we see the growing tension between Eddie and Milo—not melodramatic tension, but the achingly relatable confusion that arises when old, cherished friendships seem to be on the cusp of becoming something more.
Some characters ring truer than others: Beth, Eddie’s mother’s old friend, is callous perhaps to the point of incredulity, and there is something unsettling about Culler, the way he insinuates himself into Eddie’s life. But instead of detracting from the story, they simply add to the novel’s insistent pace, that there’s always something, something just beyond the next page that will give some relief to poor Eddie’s desperation to find meaning in her father’s death. The dramatic climax, followed by the quiet resolution, makes it all the more clearer to us the complexities of grief, and the lengths that we might need to go to in order to find peace.
In that sense, then, FALL FOR ANYTHING itself reads like a story of our own grief, from the anxiety we feel for Eddie, to its breathless yet not quite restful ending. Regardless of whether or not you’ll enjoy that, there is no doubting the fact that FALL FOR ANYTHING is an incredible read. Courtney Summers is three books into her writing career and showing no signs of faltering. I will read anything she reads, and no matter which Summers book you start with first, you will most likely come to the same conclusion, too.
Courtney Summers has nearly unmatched talent with developing three-dimensional characters using her trademark sparse prose. Even with this tight prose, there is never a moment when she just comes right out and tells us something about the characters and their relationships with one another. Instead, the characters’ issues, histories, and desires are allowed to unfold on their own. It is in this way that we see the growing tension between Eddie and Milo—not melodramatic tension, but the achingly relatable confusion that arises when old, cherished friendships seem to be on the cusp of becoming something more.
Some characters ring truer than others: Beth, Eddie’s mother’s old friend, is callous perhaps to the point of incredulity, and there is something unsettling about Culler, the way he insinuates himself into Eddie’s life. But instead of detracting from the story, they simply add to the novel’s insistent pace, that there’s always something, something just beyond the next page that will give some relief to poor Eddie’s desperation to find meaning in her father’s death. The dramatic climax, followed by the quiet resolution, makes it all the more clearer to us the complexities of grief, and the lengths that we might need to go to in order to find peace.
In that sense, then, FALL FOR ANYTHING itself reads like a story of our own grief, from the anxiety we feel for Eddie, to its breathless yet not quite restful ending. Regardless of whether or not you’ll enjoy that, there is no doubting the fact that FALL FOR ANYTHING is an incredible read. Courtney Summers is three books into her writing career and showing no signs of faltering. I will read anything she reads, and no matter which Summers book you start with first, you will most likely come to the same conclusion, too.