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documentno_is's Reviews (1.28k)
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A fun romcom that spent way too much time with a side character and added an unneeded supernatural element to a potential death plot
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book had an interesting concept but a few fatal flaws really kept it from being anything special. Never explaining what happened with Sybil, the hospital, and Liam was a mistake and an oversight on the author's part.
Finn being kind of a shit also really put me off.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really sweet and charming. One of the most frictionless love stories I’ve read this year. I really liked the chemistry and dialogue the author was able to create with these characters. Heavily inspired by ' When Harry Met Sally' so not too many points for originality but I think this novel really expanded on that age old tale and had a really interesting spin on the dynamic of growing in love.
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Subtle Christian propaganda with inconsistent character building and bad romance.
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
There is no plot there is no conflict.
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This novel is unyieldingly bleak in terms of its gaze at Hollywood and the characters of 60s free love celebrity. The numbness as a result of hedonism and cruelty is at the forefront of this novel, and with stripped down prose and horrific imagery Didion casts a lens towards Los Angeles and the dessert.
The other, much more-so inspired by the forward, had me thinking about evil and where the line is where a human crosses into being irredeemable. In the modern world our line for human beings and their actions have become black and white and that’s clearly not the world that Didion is writing in. It's interesting to view difficult people in a microcosm and examine their effect on each other.
Finally I can remark on the tone and style of this novel, which is impeccable and broken up very intuitively. This book is quite easy to read, in spite of its cruelty toward its characters. I'm certainly interested to delve further into Didion's bibliography to see if this truncated tone is her style or characteristic of this novel specifically.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really appreciate how the book periodically looks inward to say, maybe my life is similar to my parents will not be as revolutionary or as honest as that of my children. That was one of things July posited within this novel that really resonated with me.
In terms of gender and sexuality, the novel "doesn’t operate in binaries" but does so in a sort of pedantic and unnatural way because the main characters are still rooted in binaries and semi traditional roles in the start of the story. I think explorations of queerness and identity in modern life are always fun to read because it can be a sort of progressive history as its happening, but thus can feel a little forced.
The aspect of being mind or body rooted rly interested me and forced me to look inward to see that I was quite mind rooted and wondered if I’d find myself in a similar situation if I suddenly became body rooted. Menstruation and conception is a common motif within the novel, and is used to tell time and express different forms of aging within femininity and sexuality. There are certain elements of the novel that operate in taboos in regards to excretions of the body and I think that's something I've seen July ruminate on in other works.
I really appreciated the somewhat morally neutral angle on cheating and falling out of love with somebody. The ways that July described the coldness and formality that had developed within the relationship is so unfortunate but also something most people can relate to. The other moments that shined for me are the dialogue which felt so perfectly tailored to each individual character and the connections to artistic process.
It’s rly hard not to empathize with feeling used up or at the end of a road as a women in society and even when our main character acts insufferably or selfishly I feel a great sadness for her journey. I think given some knowledge about July as a public figure the reader can infer the work might be semi-biographical and its hard not to extrapolate from the character into a stand in for the author. There is a kind of eye-roll feeling I have in regards to a lot of poly dynamics and the conscious uncoupling tactics in the book are insightful but also certainly problems for people of a certain class (and income bracket.)
You’d never know heterochromia was a rare condition the way it’s abused as a quirky character lit trait
Unbearable dialogue, stupid set up, unlikable characters and setting
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Was looking for a palette cleaner after being deep in literature the past couple weeks and this one didn’t disappoint. The lead couple had great chemistry and the world was fresh and dynamic- my only complaint is some of the dialogue during spicy scenes was cringe but it wasn’t too hard to look past it. I like the exploration of PTSD in medical settings.