Reviews

Self-Portrait with Boy by Rachel Lyon

umeboshhhi's review

funny sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

jenk2020's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

C - 9 A - 8 W - 9 P - 9 I - 8 L - 9 E - 7

busyenjoyinglife's review

reflective sad

4.25

tomhill's review

3.0

3.5-The premise is impossible to resist, kind of ingenious I think, and the precipitating incident is hauntingly depicted. There are a lot of big ideas explored here: what is art's value when measured against human suffering? Art should be "pure" and thought-provoking, but at what cost? Should luck be passed off genius? A deeper exploration of characters might have been possible, but the book is very effective at exploring the questions it poses.

howardl's review against another edition

tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

main character sucks big
time

laurbgill's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

taradoesreading's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

jess_esa's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Like watching a slow car crash. The inevitably of what’s going to happen is palpable from the first page but you can’t look away. The characters who live in the apartment building are colourful and you really feel their absence when the inevitable does happen. You have to wonder at the life Lu would have had if she’d made a different choice. 

I need compensation for the rat scene which had me harrowed and somewhere between throwing up and crying.

The ghost and haunting scenes were a real surprise and I found them genuinely spooky at times. 

This book is definitely going to stay with me and I’m glad I finally got round to it! 

eileen_critchley's review against another edition

3.0

I really wanted to love this book and looked forward to reading it. I like what the author was trying to do and the idea behind the book, but feel there were too many little subplots going on. There was the main story of the photograph, there were the issues with living in an artist's loft under a slum lord, there was some attempts at 90s nostalgia, there was a friendship between the main character and a neighbor which she kept saying was her "closest friend" but it wasn't really developed, there was the main character's social awkwardness, there was her role as caretaker of her aging father, there was a sorta kinda ghost story, there was the plight of the starving artist, there was a relationship thrown in at the end.. and on and on. All of this came at the cost of none of these story lines becoming fully developed. The first part of the book really dragged me in as the main story was developing and then it all became somewhat tiresome for me.

alliereads_'s review

dark emotional tense

4.0