Take a photo of a barcode or cover
flowersisbritish 's review for:
Just by Looking at Him
by Ryan O'Connell
The main character Elliot is annoying. Just hands down, he is tremendously annoying, and the novel to some extent knows that. He is a very flawed individual in a relationship he is clearly very unhappy in and he doesn't really know what to do about it. By the end, he grows a tremendous amount in some genuinely very interesting examinations into where the power dynamics of disability and sex intersect.
The problem is all the moments in between. Elliot does a lot of bad things to his partner and is just kind of a catty dick to everyone around him in a way he hopes you'll laugh off as "haha, you LA gays!" It all wouldn't be so frustrating if Eliot didn't constantly use either his sexuality or disability as a kind of deflection from taking real responsibility. Or if the novel acknowledged that was in fact, what he was doing.
Unfortunately this novel is... lets be nice and say it wears its heart on its sleeve. It's very upfront with what it wants you to think, often explaining its own symbolism to death (explaining symbolism even a little bit is enough to ruin it, and this book loves to go that extra mile) going so far as to ruin a genuinely excellent, poignant ending drenched in symbolism and needed self-love with making sure you get it.
Eliot loves to talk way too fucking much with weird fourth wall breaks from the actual author, a lot of celebrity name droppings, a lot of vague callouts of celebrities its actually too afraid to name-drop (which is weird considering the former), and so much self-deprecating humor as a cringey mask of humility that only really serves to make it feel like the character isn't growing nearly as much as he says he is. Don't get me wrong, sometimes the book can be tremendously funny, but most of the time it is trying waaay too hard.
Ultimately, I find the book frustrating because there are a lot of good moments in it. It can be funny. Poignant. Insightful to the complexities of relationships. The problem is just simply Eliot and all the things he refuses to take responsibility for.
The problem is all the moments in between. Elliot does a lot of bad things to his partner and is just kind of a catty dick to everyone around him in a way he hopes you'll laugh off as "haha, you LA gays!" It all wouldn't be so frustrating if Eliot didn't constantly use either his sexuality or disability as a kind of deflection from taking real responsibility. Or if the novel acknowledged that was in fact, what he was doing.
Unfortunately this novel is... lets be nice and say it wears its heart on its sleeve. It's very upfront with what it wants you to think, often explaining its own symbolism to death (explaining symbolism even a little bit is enough to ruin it, and this book loves to go that extra mile) going so far as to ruin a genuinely excellent, poignant ending drenched in symbolism and needed self-love with making sure you get it.
Eliot loves to talk way too fucking much with weird fourth wall breaks from the actual author, a lot of celebrity name droppings, a lot of vague callouts of celebrities its actually too afraid to name-drop (which is weird considering the former), and so much self-deprecating humor as a cringey mask of humility that only really serves to make it feel like the character isn't growing nearly as much as he says he is. Don't get me wrong, sometimes the book can be tremendously funny, but most of the time it is trying waaay too hard.
Ultimately, I find the book frustrating because there are a lot of good moments in it. It can be funny. Poignant. Insightful to the complexities of relationships. The problem is just simply Eliot and all the things he refuses to take responsibility for.