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A review by salamireads
The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by Elizabeth O'Roark
1.0
I've been in a reading slump so I picked up the Devils series for some mindless smutty fun and this book delivered on neither front. Whilst I did enjoy some aspects of Drew and Josh's relationship, I couldn't move past the distasteful "jokes" about Hawaiians and starving children to downright disrespectful depictions of Somalia.
PSA to white authors : Don't use poor African countries as a backdrop for your subplot if you are not going to provide any nuance or compassion. Josh was a white saviour who criticized his family for being overindulgent and frequently mentioned in his inner monologue that It (the large buffets during breakfast and fancy hotels) could help the starving kids in Somalia .That statement alone, I have no problems with but it appeared as though his sole reason for doing humanitarian work was to piss off his father rather than it being a genuine passion which just adds to the whole saviour complex he had going on.
Another issue I had with this book was the framing of Drew's trauma . Throughout the book we see her struggling to leave her abusive manager (who would forcibly give her cocaine to be "on" during press tours and concerts) as well as her dealing with her past trauma and present toxic family .Seeing as this was a major point of the plot of you would expect some mentions of therapy , healing or fucking introspection or SOMETHING but nooooo ,according to this book you can essentially be cured by having the have trauma thrust out of you .
O' Roark's writing style is easy to read and get through , (which is how I finished this in a day) but I am not fond of the slight gender essentialism as well as her use of the words "male" or "female" when "man" or 'woman" would be more appropriate but that's just my personal preference
Overall, this wasn't the worst book I've ever read but it was one of those books that get worse the more you think about it
PSA to white authors : Don't use poor African countries as a backdrop for your subplot if you are not going to provide any nuance or compassion. Josh was a white saviour who criticized his family for being overindulgent and frequently mentioned in his inner monologue that It (the large buffets during breakfast and fancy hotels) could help the starving kids in Somalia .That statement alone, I have no problems with but it appeared as though his sole reason for doing humanitarian work was to piss off his father rather than it being a genuine passion which just adds to the whole saviour complex he had going on.
Another issue I had with this book was the framing of Drew's trauma . Throughout the book we see her struggling to leave her abusive manager (who would forcibly give her cocaine to be "on" during press tours and concerts) as well as her dealing with her past trauma and present toxic family .Seeing as this was a major point of the plot of you would expect some mentions of therapy , healing or fucking introspection or SOMETHING but nooooo ,according to this book you can essentially be cured by having the have trauma thrust out of you .
O' Roark's writing style is easy to read and get through , (which is how I finished this in a day) but I am not fond of the slight gender essentialism as well as her use of the words "male" or "female" when "man" or 'woman" would be more appropriate but that's just my personal preference
Overall, this wasn't the worst book I've ever read but it was one of those books that get worse the more you think about it