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A review by rika_readsanyway
Unteachable by Elliot Wake
4.0
edited, 16/2/24: i cannot give this book 5 stars for the problematic issues it represents.
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[reread] i read this book two years back and instantly fell in love with it, because i loved maise o’malley (god, i love protagonists who don’t stick to the norms and maise is one of them. bitch is sarcastic, screwed-up, and cynical. she likes fucking older men and she doesn’t care what you think), hiyam (the queen bitch, the cokehead, and the persian tycoon’s daughter <3), cinema references, pretentious lyrical prose, “euphoria” vibe, and shoegaze atmosphere of it. this book managed to twist familiar tropes into something refreshing. characters felt authentic and i cannot get over how every description was atmospheric and enticing.
according to the author, maise is an old soul who knows what she wants in life, and evan is young at heart and still searching. they meet somewhere in the middle. i have no comments on the romance aspect. but, yes, maise is eighteen and their relationship is legal. i was impressed by the lack of power imbalance between them, because maise is headstrong and unafraid to live for the moment. staying in or leaving the relationship, she’s the one who makes the choice and she won’t risk her future for a man.
if only i can ignore some issues: maise calling skinny girls bulimic, repetitive sex scenes, and evan’s past relationship (it was a bit creepy if you ask me). anyway, the basic idea of this book is fucked-up and i appreciate that it didn’t try to prove us the other way around. it rather explored the forbidden nature of their relationship logically, which made the book appear sophisticated. all in all, unteachable felt like an art-house erotic movie, and i love how the book ended in ambiguity.
playlist
———————————————
[reread] i read this book two years back and instantly fell in love with it, because i loved maise o’malley (god, i love protagonists who don’t stick to the norms and maise is one of them. bitch is sarcastic, screwed-up, and cynical. she likes fucking older men and she doesn’t care what you think), hiyam (the queen bitch, the cokehead, and the persian tycoon’s daughter <3), cinema references, pretentious lyrical prose, “euphoria” vibe, and shoegaze atmosphere of it. this book managed to twist familiar tropes into something refreshing. characters felt authentic and i cannot get over how every description was atmospheric and enticing.
”storm clouds obscured the real stars, but the city came alive, a horoscope of earthbound constellations spreading below us: meteoric tail lights, neon pulsars, twinkling and shimmering all the way to the horizon. it made my heart ache. the city at night gave me the same melancholy twinge i’d felt as a kid watching mom plug in the christmas tree. something beautiful and full of promise, but something you knew you could never touch”
“we spent two days straight having sex and watching movies and talking and laughing and kissing in a hazy, dreamy montage, until finally, we stumbled out into the indigo twilight, delirious and exhausted, blinking at the lights and cars and the speed of life as if we’d just come out of a hundred-year sleep”
according to the author, maise is an old soul who knows what she wants in life, and evan is young at heart and still searching. they meet somewhere in the middle. i have no comments on the romance aspect. but, yes, maise is eighteen and their relationship is legal. i was impressed by the lack of power imbalance between them, because maise is headstrong and unafraid to live for the moment. staying in or leaving the relationship, she’s the one who makes the choice and she won’t risk her future for a man.
if only i can ignore some issues: maise calling skinny girls bulimic, repetitive sex scenes, and evan’s past relationship (it was a bit creepy if you ask me). anyway, the basic idea of this book is fucked-up and i appreciate that it didn’t try to prove us the other way around. it rather explored the forbidden nature of their relationship logically, which made the book appear sophisticated. all in all, unteachable felt like an art-house erotic movie, and i love how the book ended in ambiguity.
”we were part of this place, the blood thrashing inside the steel heart of this city, the crimson in its stone veins. we were the cells burning like stars. people like us. passion like ours.”
playlist