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j0s1eg's Reviews (26)
I found this far too slow-paced for me, unfortunately. Struggled to be interested enough to pick it up.
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I devoured this. It was a total reset after a book that dragged and didn’t hook me at all.
A lesbian clown in central Florida who works part-time in an aquarium — I mean, come on. That setup alone had me. Feels like someone pulled it out of a hat and somehow it works.
Cherry was a great protagonist — messy, funny, painfully relatable. She felt like someone I know, or multiple people I know, especially all my creative friends who live in chaos but make it art.
The plot was low-key but solid — a woman reckoning with her dead brother, her strained relationship with her mom, and just… herself. I was into it.
Only reason it’s not five stars is that the pacing dipped in places. I caught myself checking how many pages were left a couple of times. But overall really glad I read it.
A lesbian clown in central Florida who works part-time in an aquarium — I mean, come on. That setup alone had me. Feels like someone pulled it out of a hat and somehow it works.
Cherry was a great protagonist — messy, funny, painfully relatable. She felt like someone I know, or multiple people I know, especially all my creative friends who live in chaos but make it art.
The plot was low-key but solid — a woman reckoning with her dead brother, her strained relationship with her mom, and just… herself. I was into it.
Only reason it’s not five stars is that the pacing dipped in places. I caught myself checking how many pages were left a couple of times. But overall really glad I read it.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was hard for me to articulate what I gained from this book. A biracial woman aches to be part of an aspirational portrait of motherhood and womanhood but realises too late that she's spent 10 years working on the wrong novel.
I don't know if I liked Jane, though I think I understood her. She picked up her dream life from TV shows, clawed her way to an OK job, and produced flawed children with her flawed husband; then spends a lot of time miserable because her life isn't how she expected it to turn out.
I'm not sure I'd recommend this book personally; it was too slow and took a long time to read as a result. I also didn't feel pulled to read to the end - the plot wasn't really a driving factor.
Having said that it gave me a lot to think about and the characters and context were all very interesting.
I don't know if I liked Jane, though I think I understood her. She picked up her dream life from TV shows, clawed her way to an OK job, and produced flawed children with her flawed husband; then spends a lot of time miserable because her life isn't how she expected it to turn out.
I'm not sure I'd recommend this book personally; it was too slow and took a long time to read as a result. I also didn't feel pulled to read to the end - the plot wasn't really a driving factor.
Having said that it gave me a lot to think about and the characters and context were all very interesting.
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
One of my favourite reads of the year so far. I loved the characters (especially Graham Gore, very sexy!), and the writing had a compelling tone and pace that kept me hooked. The start felt a bit like time-travel fanfiction, and the protagonist initially gave off self-insert vibes, but the book quickly won me over.
It’s a fun, thought-provoking premise that really pulled on my heartstrings. Some of the prose leans a little overwritten - lots of seasonal metaphors and poetic imagery - but overall, I really enjoyed it. A strong five stars from me.
It’s a fun, thought-provoking premise that really pulled on my heartstrings. Some of the prose leans a little overwritten - lots of seasonal metaphors and poetic imagery - but overall, I really enjoyed it. A strong five stars from me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Sexual content
dark
emotional
funny
medium-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:
Yes
This is a book about unresolved family trauma: layered, inherited, constantly morphing. The Fletchers, a VERY wealthy Jewish family from Long Island, are each coping with the long shadows of a 1987 kidnapping that reshaped the course of their lives, even for those not yet born when it happened. The trauma radiates outward: from a grandfather who fled the Nazis, to a father still defined by his abduction, to children raised by emotionally unavailable parents too focused on keeping him intact.
Brodesser-Akner tells this story with wit and an almost conspiratorial tone, like hearing it from a sharp-eyed neighbour who’s been watching the family for years. The narrative shifts between characters, beginning with the youngest son and working its way through the siblings and eventually to the parents. It’s a clever structure that slowly deepens your understanding of the family’s dysfunction, desires, and disappointments. Every character feels fully realised. Some of their inner lives (including, spoiler alert, one son’s various fetishes) are presented with unflinching intimacy.
This was very much my kind of book: emotionally intelligent, structurally smart, and often darkly funny. Highly recommended if you like character-driven stories that pry into the uncomfortable spaces families tend to paper over.
Giving it a 4.5 star rating because I did find myself checking the page numbers frequently - maybe this was a little toooooo slow for me, or a little too character-oriented at times vs plot/action?
Brodesser-Akner tells this story with wit and an almost conspiratorial tone, like hearing it from a sharp-eyed neighbour who’s been watching the family for years. The narrative shifts between characters, beginning with the youngest son and working its way through the siblings and eventually to the parents. It’s a clever structure that slowly deepens your understanding of the family’s dysfunction, desires, and disappointments. Every character feels fully realised. Some of their inner lives (including, spoiler alert, one son’s various fetishes) are presented with unflinching intimacy.
This was very much my kind of book: emotionally intelligent, structurally smart, and often darkly funny. Highly recommended if you like character-driven stories that pry into the uncomfortable spaces families tend to paper over.
Giving it a 4.5 star rating because I did find myself checking the page numbers frequently - maybe this was a little toooooo slow for me, or a little too character-oriented at times vs plot/action?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Kidnapping
challenging
slow-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
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Adina is an alien, sent to earth to report on the human experience by sending faxes to her superiors. We follow her from birth to her return to her alien family, through childhood and high school and into adulthood. I loved the writing; loved the pacing; loved that it was always a mirror to the indescribable human experience. Very grief-heavy towards the end of the book so not a lighthearted read by a long shot, but I really enjoyed it!
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-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
Ok, you know what - this was really good. I'm not a big fan of Dolly Alderton but Good Material is a really great non-rom-com. The main character, Andy, is very likeable, and stupid, and funny. The cast of side characters is great too. I liked the characters' growth. I liked the pace. I liked it all.
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Nora Ephron - what a lady! What a legend! It's hard to express quite what a blueprint Nora was/is/will always be for lighthearted, funny, smart women's writing; I now realise that every women's magazine I read in the mid-2000s was imitating her voice.
I Feel Bad About My Neck is a silly collection of short essays about mundane things, and above all, ageing. Nora talks about handbags; cabbage strudel; her beloved New York. She lists tweakments and her over-the-top beauty routine, revelling in how absurd it all is.
This isn't revolutionary now. It's a pretty privileged lens through which to look at one woman's life. But Nora's not exactly coy in sharing her experience as a very successful woman working in the entertainment industry. The final product is like speaking with an old friend; Nora Ephron is my friend.
I will say, the version that I read had an introduction from Dolly Alderton which I found quite irritating. Dolly's "contribution" offers absolutely nothing of value and I skipped most of the intro.
I Feel Bad About My Neck is a silly collection of short essays about mundane things, and above all, ageing. Nora talks about handbags; cabbage strudel; her beloved New York. She lists tweakments and her over-the-top beauty routine, revelling in how absurd it all is.
This isn't revolutionary now. It's a pretty privileged lens through which to look at one woman's life. But Nora's not exactly coy in sharing her experience as a very successful woman working in the entertainment industry. The final product is like speaking with an old friend; Nora Ephron is my friend.
I will say, the version that I read had an introduction from Dolly Alderton which I found quite irritating. Dolly's "contribution" offers absolutely nothing of value and I skipped most of the intro.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A very interesting spine of them. I read this because I know that it is a very famous Cold War thriller, but I will say that I didn't really connect with the characters. Perhaps it's a little bit too old-fashioned for me? At times the plot was a bit confusing; I think I needed to brush up on my history before reading this. As it was, I just looked up the plot on Wikipedia in order to understand what was going on. I enjoyed the writing and the pace felt good. The version that I read on Kindle was riddled with typos. And that's my review.