You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Scan barcode
A review by sucreslibrary
The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran
2.5
it probably says something about me that i found 'come closer' to be so much sexier than the book about sex magic.
not sure what i expected from this one except for it to be a little bit weirder? the sex aspects of this almost felt quaint in how mundane they were. i could have seen this being made as a film in the 70s or 80s and it being seen as a little more revolutionary back then (though there were plenty of films made in those times that far eclipse the sexual content of this book!). something that really started to grate on me the further we got into the book was the descriptions of all the characters (practically every character you meet gets a full description of their body/hair/clothing), and how all the hot ones were thin (save for one exception, where one woman was "chubby") while several of the ugly characters were described as fat. a small detail, but one that i think really shows the faults of the author and a lack of expansive thinking i would want from a work meant to show so many different aspects of sex and sexual communities.
another issue i had is that it felt like so many different scenes were totally skimmed over or skipped entirely that would have made for much more interesting reading than the story loop we got stuck in of plane > meet new wacky person > eat food > sex. by the time we were flying to france i was exhausted from all the plane trips. part of what sells this kind of story loop is the characters we're meeting; they have to be extremely interesting and stand out in the reader's mind even if they're only around for a few pages. sadly, none of the characters we met really hit that bar. most of them are incredibly bland cutouts, and that includes the witch lesbian dominatrix. i actually quite disliked the scene that plays out between the MC and said witch lesbian dominatrix, and was annoyed it was the only f/f scene we got in a book so focused on sex.
i think there's a lot of great discussions around grief, and the way the MC handles her own grief and goes about opening up to others again after being alone and resentful for so long was good to see. it's probably the part of the book that's handled the best out of anything. but the twists and plot reveals landed with a dull thud for me, and i felt pretty meh on the whole thing by the time it ended. this has such a cool premise and i really wish it had been MORE - more interesting in its exploration of sex, more impactful in its story beats, more dynamic with its characters, just more of everything.
not sure what i expected from this one except for it to be a little bit weirder? the sex aspects of this almost felt quaint in how mundane they were. i could have seen this being made as a film in the 70s or 80s and it being seen as a little more revolutionary back then (though there were plenty of films made in those times that far eclipse the sexual content of this book!). something that really started to grate on me the further we got into the book was the descriptions of all the characters (practically every character you meet gets a full description of their body/hair/clothing), and how all the hot ones were thin (save for one exception, where one woman was "chubby") while several of the ugly characters were described as fat. a small detail, but one that i think really shows the faults of the author and a lack of expansive thinking i would want from a work meant to show so many different aspects of sex and sexual communities.
another issue i had is that it felt like so many different scenes were totally skimmed over or skipped entirely that would have made for much more interesting reading than the story loop we got stuck in of plane > meet new wacky person > eat food > sex. by the time we were flying to france i was exhausted from all the plane trips. part of what sells this kind of story loop is the characters we're meeting; they have to be extremely interesting and stand out in the reader's mind even if they're only around for a few pages. sadly, none of the characters we met really hit that bar. most of them are incredibly bland cutouts, and that includes the witch lesbian dominatrix. i actually quite disliked the scene that plays out between the MC and said witch lesbian dominatrix, and was annoyed it was the only f/f scene we got in a book so focused on sex.
i think there's a lot of great discussions around grief, and the way the MC handles her own grief and goes about opening up to others again after being alone and resentful for so long was good to see. it's probably the part of the book that's handled the best out of anything. but the twists and plot reveals landed with a dull thud for me, and i felt pretty meh on the whole thing by the time it ended. this has such a cool premise and i really wish it had been MORE - more interesting in its exploration of sex, more impactful in its story beats, more dynamic with its characters, just more of everything.