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A review by lemonsandligaments
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
(mild spoilers)
From the moment the book started, I have always felt very "eh" about it, probably because this is a book for millennials. It is just two millennials doing expensive things and not admitting their love for each other for over a decade, including the "we love each otherrr but I just can't commit, woe is me" crap. They're clearly wealthy enough to afford yearly travel and just hearing all the "aww man, I have everything I want :<<<<" really makes you disconnect from the story.
There are only 2 main constants in the book with some supporting characters and I like none of them. I don't HATE them but they're just alright. The main character is a girl with wanderlust and loves everything and can't settle down for shit and the love interest is a cynical dude with a dead mother that pretty much hates everything (main character's mother is alive, opposites attract?).
The love interest appears to morph into a different person every chapter, since the book timeskips a lot of trips over the past decade or so. He can be reproachful and emo in one chapter and sweet, loving, witty in the others. He also has this puppy dog face thing that get mentioned relentlessly in the first half of the book and suddenly gets dropped, never to return. For most of the book, he just feels like a sock puppet. Their story is meant to be an opposites attract thing but other than the fact that she likes travelling and he doesn't, it doesn't really jump out at you until they mention it.
If you don't like the two of them, the rest of the chapters just turn into a slog, I had to set the audiobook to 4x speed to get through it. It is all about them, the angst, the shit they should've told one another. Fortunately, this book is about average length because if it were longer I would not have finished it. The ending was alright, though I probably would've felt the same if it ended any other way.
I will give credit where it's due, themes of therapy, consent, and bullying were covered. I particularily liked some of the conversations the two main characters had when they were finally coming clean to each other about things, they felt raw and intense.
That scene where Alex tells her that everything he did, the VASECTOMY was because of her, and how she did not want to accept it, that was good.
I feel like this is a matter of relatability, are you a rich millennial with wanderlust who has been pining for the same person for over a decade, this book is for you! Otherwise, It will not be enjoyable.
From the moment the book started, I have always felt very "eh" about it, probably because this is a book for millennials. It is just two millennials doing expensive things and not admitting their love for each other for over a decade, including the "we love each otherrr but I just can't commit, woe is me" crap. They're clearly wealthy enough to afford yearly travel and just hearing all the "aww man, I have everything I want :<<<<" really makes you disconnect from the story.
There are only 2 main constants in the book with some supporting characters and I like none of them. I don't HATE them but they're just alright. The main character is a girl with wanderlust and loves everything and can't settle down for shit and the love interest is a cynical dude with a dead mother that pretty much hates everything (main character's mother is alive, opposites attract?).
The love interest appears to morph into a different person every chapter, since the book timeskips a lot of trips over the past decade or so. He can be reproachful and emo in one chapter and sweet, loving, witty in the others. He also has this puppy dog face thing that get mentioned relentlessly in the first half of the book and suddenly gets dropped, never to return. For most of the book, he just feels like a sock puppet. Their story is meant to be an opposites attract thing but other than the fact that she likes travelling and he doesn't, it doesn't really jump out at you until they mention it.
If you don't like the two of them, the rest of the chapters just turn into a slog, I had to set the audiobook to 4x speed to get through it. It is all about them, the angst, the shit they should've told one another. Fortunately, this book is about average length because if it were longer I would not have finished it. The ending was alright, though I probably would've felt the same if it ended any other way.
I will give credit where it's due, themes of therapy, consent, and bullying were covered. I particularily liked some of the conversations the two main characters had when they were finally coming clean to each other about things, they felt raw and intense.
I feel like this is a matter of relatability, are you a rich millennial with wanderlust who has been pining for the same person for over a decade, this book is for you! Otherwise, It will not be enjoyable.