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mushr00mcore's Reviews (569)
While I agree with the overall message, I found it to be very repetitive. I can only hear about China and the EU leading the way for so long before I zone out. This book was 304 pages and it still felt too long.
I also didn't vibe with how the market is posed as the way to save the planet. It isn't.
I also didn't vibe with how the market is posed as the way to save the planet. It isn't.
I simply didn't care for this book. In fact, it did some things I really enjoyed. It forced a guy took responsibility for his actions despite his shitty past. Ableism is addressed and partially confronted. It's largely character-driven.
However, I do not like how the author handled abuse. Rather than portray it in a nuanced realistic way, the abuser is written as a cartoon villain without the fun and outlandishness associated with them. She is shown as a purely horrible person, a monster from birth, and quite simply, inhuman. This monsterifying of abusers, this dehumanizing to the point of caricature, only furthers misconceptions about abuse that dangerous assumptions.
I also did not care for the romance. One, Gerald is not in a place in his recovery for romance. Two, a pretty girl cannot and should not be expected to fix a violent angry guy, something within the narrative that is presented as proof they are soul mates. I do not have an exact quote but Gerald says she is making him better. I cannot and will never be able to get behind this sentiment.
This is not a terrible book. I enjoyed the writing enough, and had I read it when I was 15 rather than 18, I may have loved it. However, I cannot recommend it to anyone, and I cannot look over the aspects I disliked in favor of the aspects I liked in order to give it a higher rating.
However, I do not like how the author handled abuse. Rather than portray it in a nuanced realistic way, the abuser is written as a cartoon villain without the fun and outlandishness associated with them. She is shown as a purely horrible person, a monster from birth, and quite simply, inhuman. This monsterifying of abusers, this dehumanizing to the point of caricature, only furthers misconceptions about abuse that dangerous assumptions.
I also did not care for the romance. One, Gerald is not in a place in his recovery for romance. Two, a pretty girl cannot and should not be expected to fix a violent angry guy, something within the narrative that is presented as proof they are soul mates. I do not have an exact quote but Gerald says she is making him better. I cannot and will never be able to get behind this sentiment.
This is not a terrible book. I enjoyed the writing enough, and had I read it when I was 15 rather than 18, I may have loved it. However, I cannot recommend it to anyone, and I cannot look over the aspects I disliked in favor of the aspects I liked in order to give it a higher rating.
Edit: bumping down to two stars.
I liked this book, I really did, but it just felt like there was something it was lacking. I felt no real emotional ties to the characters, no matter how much I adored Daisy, Karen, and Camila.
One thing that annoyed me towards the end of the novel is how Taylor Jenkins Reid seemed to have an idea of how a woman should be. It was not the demure and shy vision of a woman, quite the opposite, actually, but their seemed to be a condemnation, a subtle one, of the women like Karen, who tried to be 'one of the guys', and generally, of the women that were not as brazenly bold, confident, and domineering as Daisy. Not only did I disagree with the message, it seemed to weaken the book itself since it seems so clear that the Daisy we are reading about is not someone we should aspire to be.
That, I think, is the only solid thing I can say lead to my middling rating of the book. Other than that, it was just the feeling that the book was missing something, and I can not quite tell you what I think it was.
I can sure why so many people loved it as much as they did.
I liked this book, I really did, but it just felt like there was something it was lacking. I felt no real emotional ties to the characters, no matter how much I adored Daisy, Karen, and Camila.
One thing that annoyed me towards the end of the novel is how Taylor Jenkins Reid seemed to have an idea of how a woman should be. It was not the demure and shy vision of a woman, quite the opposite, actually, but their seemed to be a condemnation, a subtle one, of the women like Karen, who tried to be 'one of the guys', and generally, of the women that were not as brazenly bold, confident, and domineering as Daisy. Not only did I disagree with the message, it seemed to weaken the book itself since it seems so clear that the Daisy we are reading about is not someone we should aspire to be.
That, I think, is the only solid thing I can say lead to my middling rating of the book. Other than that, it was just the feeling that the book was missing something, and I can not quite tell you what I think it was.
I can sure why so many people loved it as much as they did.
