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r1bcage 's review for:
Alone With You in the Ether
by Olivie Blake
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
read in a few fairly long sessions over the course of 4 days; seemed like a good way to go about it the more i got into it. i was consistently left with a weighty feeling after putting it down, & not in a way that’s necessarily complimentary nor negative. the characters & the writing style that expounds on them are as frustrating as they are compelling—but it almost feels like too much. this book is a lot. it’s a heaping of way too much food on your plate, a clusterfuck of sensory overload in the form of purple prose & oversaturated metaphor.
i like it for its cerebral quality, how it feels like a headache that flared up from thinking for too long about something that probably wasn’t worth the energy; but i also dislike it for those same reasons. i loved it for its frequently electric imagery (he felt something balloon inside his chest, retreating & incoming footsteps directly compared to a thumping heartbeat, etc.). there’s much to appreciate, but in equal measure plenty that leaves you left wanting & perhaps dizzied.
still, i don’t know that i’ve witnessed fiction describe the terror of fearing that you’re not actually behaving as yourself around someone: merely that you’ve splintered off a passable version of yourself that appeals to them, fits into their world. to ingest that sentiment within the text felt bittersweet, because i had to wade through the murky waters of awyite’s narrative in order to find it.
the beginning(!!!) & the end(!) were the best parts for me, which is likely fitting considering the themes the book attempts to explore.
i like it for its cerebral quality, how it feels like a headache that flared up from thinking for too long about something that probably wasn’t worth the energy; but i also dislike it for those same reasons. i loved it for its frequently electric imagery (he felt something balloon inside his chest, retreating & incoming footsteps directly compared to a thumping heartbeat, etc.). there’s much to appreciate, but in equal measure plenty that leaves you left wanting & perhaps dizzied.
still, i don’t know that i’ve witnessed fiction describe the terror of fearing that you’re not actually behaving as yourself around someone: merely that you’ve splintered off a passable version of yourself that appeals to them, fits into their world. to ingest that sentiment within the text felt bittersweet, because i had to wade through the murky waters of awyite’s narrative in order to find it.
the beginning(!!!) & the end(!) were the best parts for me, which is likely fitting considering the themes the book attempts to explore.