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deadhouseplant's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I read The Wife last year, so I thought I’d like this one more. The word “interesting” is one of my pet peeves in writing because it doesn’t really say anything substantive… which sums up this group of artistic friends pretty well.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
sarita3's review against another edition
reflective
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
santo amado, o que é que acabei de ler? 😭
este livro é irritante. as personagens são irritantes, a história é irritante, a maneira como procede sobre tudo é irritante, até a escrita, apesar de ser tão interessante (irónico, não?), chega a ser irritante, por se perder em devaneios e levar o leitor a perder-se também (e não da melhor forma)
mas o mais irritante disto tudo, é quão bom o livro é. porque está mesmo bem construído e é extremamente real. um livro diferente de tudo o que tenho lido, mais profundo, grotesco, genuíno e interessante (sim, interessante, ora vejam só) do que o típico normal. não é o que se está à espera e vai mais além do básico
e é isso que é o mais irritante de tudo porque, em termos de construção literária mereceria 5 estrelas. é aquele tipo de ficção que capta e transmite tão bem a realidade que faz o leitor sentir-se nu perante a sua lupa de análise só por ser tão precisamente específico e quase ofensivamente acusatório destes sentimentos e características desagradáveis, esplêndidas e essencialmente humanas que encontramos em nós mesmos
mas a experiência de leitura foi miserável. profundamente miserável, acho que já há algum tempo que não sofria tanto a ler um livro. foi horrível, parecia uma tarefa, uma que me irritava profundamente e me fazia sentir extremamente desconfortável de vez em quando (eu sei que o confronto com o desconforto era o objetivo da obra, mas havia alturas em que era demasiado infuriating para aguentar) e depois o livro era massudo e demorei semanas a terminá-lo e passou a ser só uma coisa que eu queria ver longe dos meus dias
e a pior parte é que eu sabia que apesar de tudo, o livro era bom 😭 até me sinto mal a dar duas estrelas, porque sei que ele merecia uma melhor classificação. mas for the love of god, nn conseguia dar mais a algo que só me proporcionou uma experiência tão sofrível
que venham as leituras boas 🥂 (acho que pior que isto não fica)
este livro é irritante. as personagens são irritantes, a história é irritante, a maneira como procede sobre tudo é irritante, até a escrita, apesar de ser tão interessante (irónico, não?), chega a ser irritante, por se perder em devaneios e levar o leitor a perder-se também (e não da melhor forma)
mas o mais irritante disto tudo, é quão bom o livro é. porque está mesmo bem construído e é extremamente real. um livro diferente de tudo o que tenho lido, mais profundo, grotesco, genuíno e interessante (sim, interessante, ora vejam só) do que o típico normal. não é o que se está à espera e vai mais além do básico
e é isso que é o mais irritante de tudo porque, em termos de construção literária mereceria 5 estrelas. é aquele tipo de ficção que capta e transmite tão bem a realidade que faz o leitor sentir-se nu perante a sua lupa de análise só por ser tão precisamente específico e quase ofensivamente acusatório destes sentimentos e características desagradáveis, esplêndidas e essencialmente humanas que encontramos em nós mesmos
mas a experiência de leitura foi miserável. profundamente miserável, acho que já há algum tempo que não sofria tanto a ler um livro. foi horrível, parecia uma tarefa, uma que me irritava profundamente e me fazia sentir extremamente desconfortável de vez em quando (eu sei que o confronto com o desconforto era o objetivo da obra, mas havia alturas em que era demasiado infuriating para aguentar) e depois o livro era massudo e demorei semanas a terminá-lo e passou a ser só uma coisa que eu queria ver longe dos meus dias
e a pior parte é que eu sabia que apesar de tudo, o livro era bom 😭 até me sinto mal a dar duas estrelas, porque sei que ele merecia uma melhor classificação. mas for the love of god, nn conseguia dar mais a algo que só me proporcionou uma experiência tão sofrível
que venham as leituras boas 🥂 (acho que pior que isto não fica)
Content Warnings
Minor: Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, and Death of parent
rivareads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I always thought this book would be a pretentious, trying to hard to be deep coming of age story, but now I know for sure it's a pretentious, trying to hard to be deep coming of age story.
I honestly just finished because it has the right amount of literary quality under all the pretentiousness and the perfect pacing to be read in waiting rooms.
The characters are deep down flawed in a way that makes them truly unlikable, shallow and tonal. The character driven conflict is completely circular, which destroys any chance of character development. The inner conflict goes in circles and it's kind of hard to believe a 50 year old who was a therapist would still react the same way has she would when she was a teen. The characters are very black and white up until the point they are made to be morally grey, which fails and makes them dull. These people never actually develop anything, they a re always recycling the same things they felt when they were teens.
The truly remarkable thing about this book is how shallowly it addresses controversial and heavy topics such as sexual assault and AIDS. These are treated like things to add to the plot and create a dramatic moment. there's no deep conversation about the consequences of sexual assault and how it affected a young girl. Instead all is presented in a careless and even tacky way. "so this happened because it's a good plot point and made this guy, who is very cute by the way, did we mention that?, only 200 times , run away to Iceland and fullfil his tragic descent into a degenerate "
It runs in circles to nowhere and it is as pretentious as you'd think about a group of people who titled themselves the interestings.
I honestly just finished because it has the right amount of literary quality under all the pretentiousness and the perfect pacing to be read in waiting rooms.
The characters are deep down flawed in a way that makes them truly unlikable, shallow and tonal. The character driven conflict is completely circular, which destroys any chance of character development. The inner conflict goes in circles and it's kind of hard to believe a 50 year old who was a therapist would still react the same way has she would when she was a teen. The characters are very black and white up until the point they are made to be morally grey, which fails and makes them dull. These people never actually develop anything, they a re always recycling the same things they felt when they were teens.
The truly remarkable thing about this book is how shallowly it addresses controversial and heavy topics such as sexual assault and AIDS. These are treated like things to add to the plot and create a dramatic moment. there's no deep conversation about the consequences of sexual assault and how it affected a young girl. Instead all is presented in a careless and even tacky way. "so this happened because it's a good plot point and made this guy, who is very cute by the way, did we mention that?, only 200 times , run away to Iceland and fullfil his tragic descent into a degenerate "
It runs in circles to nowhere and it is as pretentious as you'd think about a group of people who titled themselves the interestings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Terminal illness
greenbeangal's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
Moderate: Drug abuse and Mental illness
Minor: Ableism, Racism, and Antisemitism
andrewjbank's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault
mandeyzing's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
oliviastewart716's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A bizarre exploration of problematic characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Drug use and Rape
amberlc's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
annacochran's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sometimes you just need to read a story about the intertwined lives of fictional people, it’s as simple as that.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness and Sexual assault
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Racism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
qi_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
i think reading/listening to this at the current point in my life was interesting because i am in between both the stages that the book explores, young teenager (13-14) to adult (30+). i relate to the aspirational side of them when they were at the summer camp but still understand the realities of life (i would like to believe). i understand why people wouldn't like it (because a lot of the reviews i have seen were not favourable) since we're following pretentious, privileged, tALENTED teenagers living their best new york lives and at many points feeling sorry for themselves; i mean..wISH IT WAS ME.
yes, the characters were pety, annoying, pretentious, jealous and contradictory but, real people are assholes too. so, i think that was the whole point of it and is what made is so realistic. either way the things that it explored: dreams vs reality, the dynamics of envy in friendships, how big tragic life events can change a person and their relationships, class and just the development of life and relationships over time, were really interesting and well fleshed out.
when big events came into the plot (not saying for the sake of spoilers), i found it so interesting to see how this could change the dynamics within these relationships.
as for the audiobook, not much to say other than i liked how the narrator committed to the voices (male and female), definitely helped with distinguishing between characters.
when meg wolizter addressed ash's response to cathy's rape i was so relieved lmao. it was irking me and im glad that it was revisited at the end. she is this "feminist" character yet completely failed to consider that her brother could have actually done something. it was a really interesting element to bring into the plot and i loved seeing how everything played out. okay enough ranting
yes, the characters were pety, annoying, pretentious, jealous and contradictory but, real people are assholes too. so, i think that was the whole point of it and is what made is so realistic. either way the things that it explored: dreams vs reality, the dynamics of envy in friendships, how big tragic life events can change a person and their relationships, class and just the development of life and relationships over time, were really interesting and well fleshed out.
when big events came into the plot (not saying for the sake of spoilers), i found it so interesting to see how this could change the dynamics within these relationships.
as for the audiobook, not much to say other than i liked how the narrator committed to the voices (male and female), definitely helped with distinguishing between characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship