beaniedorman's review
4.0
This is a look at an alternate world where tragedies are remembered by the people that are lost, not the people that caused it, and the girls of Devonairre street in Brooklyn may or may not be cursed to lose anyone they fall in love with. Lorna and her group of friends do not believe in the curse, but when one of their boyfriends dies suddenly, they are forced to wonder if it is real. The aftermath delves into the anatomy of relationships--romantic or familial or friendly--and gives heartfelt, raw looks at each.
kaycee_k's review against another edition
2.0
I haven't read many Magical Realism, this is like my second/third one for my, I like this book but it fell short. I couldn't get hooked onto any of the characters, Lorna Cruz Charlotte Delilah Isla. I wanted something more from it. This book was different than what I thought it was (& that's not always bad, but I was a bit dissipated.). I didn't hate it but I just wanted more; from the characters and the world; I did enjoy the writing style of Corey Ann Haydu and will be looking out for more books by her.
It kinda felt like a draft of a book. There were something things happened out of nowhere, with no showing or telling why this changed happened. I like the book up until I hit the half mark then the book when down hill for me because of the ending.
I do have to not that I do like that way Corey played on the effect of being kids and wives to someone who died in a public way that effected the country, that's not a topic I see a lot in YA books. I enjoyed how the author played around with the troubles, problems and hard times that come with that.
Overall, I love the idea of what this story could have been, but there were something/topics that happened that should have been talked about, after they happened, not just pushed aside.
It kinda felt like a draft of a book. There were something things happened out of nowhere, with no showing or telling why this changed happened. I like the book up until I hit the half mark then the book when down hill for me because of the ending.
I do have to not that I do like that way Corey played on the effect of being kids and wives to someone who died in a public way that effected the country, that's not a topic I see a lot in YA books. I enjoyed how the author played around with the troubles, problems and hard times that come with that.
Overall, I love the idea of what this story could have been, but there were something/topics that happened that should have been talked about, after they happened, not just pushed aside.
ananthousflorist's review
1.0
This book was repetitive and difficult to understand. There was little plot, which sometimes works for me, but I didn't enjoy it here.
kim1kim2's review
4.0
I don't know how to feel about this book. Its a strange story with a strange plot and strange characters. Nothing really felt explained to me. Nothing really made sence, the street, the culture, their traditions, the world even. It felt all so fake and strange, But in an odd way I have such a clear view of all our characters, of their street of the whole world. I can picture them so well that it feels like real people. Our main character was kind of sad. She had these anoyinng moments, and it sometimes felt like she didn't had allot of feelings. Like she was sometimes kind of numb... It felt like she was depressed trough the whole book. She was kind of muted in a sort. I don't know how to describe my feelings for the character and the story... I kind of wished that the book ended differently. This book has me kind of connecting with the characters and their feelings in a weird way I don't understand. Any way maybe i'm just in a weird mood but I give this book a 4.0 stars. i will probabley change it but a 4 stars feels good.
4.0 Stars
4.0 Stars
missprint_'s review
4.0
"I've been waiting for one thing, but love can be anything."
---
"When there's nothing left to salvage, we have to save ourselves."
Everyone knows that Devonairre Street in Brooklyn is cursed. Being loved by a Devonairre Street girl ends in tragedy. Just look at the number of war widows on the street or the concentration of Affected families left without husbands and fathers after the Times Square Bombing in 2001.
Lorna Ryder and her mother have never put much stock in the curse even though they pretend to play along. Lorna celebrates a shared birthday along with Cruz, his sister Isla, Charlotte, and Delilah. She keeps her hair long and wears a key around her neck. She does everything she is supposed to just the way Angelika has advised since Lorna was a child.
But none of it seems to be enough when Delilah's boyfriend Jack is killed in the wake of the grief and confusion surrounding another terrorist attack across the country. Lorna and her friends are shocked by Jack's sudden death. Grieving and shaken, Lorna has to decide what this new loss means about the veracity of the curse and her own future as a part of Devonairre Street and away from it in The Careful Undressing of Love (2017) by Corey Ann Haydu.
The Careful Undressing of Love is Haydu's latest standalone YA novel. Lorna narrates this novel with a breezy nonchalance which soon turns to fear and doubt as everything she previously believed about love and the curse on Devonairre Street is thrown into question. The style and tone work well with Haydu's world building to create an alternate history that is simultaneously timeless and strikingly immediate.
Haydu's characters are realistically inclusive and diverse. An argument could be made that it's problematic that Delilah and Isla (the Devonairre Street girls who are not white) are the ones who suffer more over the course of this novel filled with loss and snap judgements by an insensitive public. But the same argument could be made that privilege makes this outcome sadly inevitable--a contradiction that Lorna notes herself when she begins to unpack her own privileges of being white contrasted with the burdens she has under the weight of the supposed curse and living as one of the Affected.
This story is complicated and filled with philosophical questions about grief and fear as well as love and feminism. While there is room for a bit more closure, the fate of Devonairre Street and its residents ultimately becomes irrelevant compated with Lorna's need to break away to protect herself and her own future.
A quiet, wrenching story about the bonds of love and friendship and the ways in which they can break; a commentary on the stresses and pressures of being a girl in the modern world; and a story about self-preservation first. The Careful Undressing of Love is smart and strange, frank and raw, and devastating. Highly recommended.
Possible Pairings: The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle, The Midnight Dress by Karen Foxlee, Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, The Truth Commission by Susan Juby, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, Wild Swans by Jessica Spotswood, The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma, The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print
---
"When there's nothing left to salvage, we have to save ourselves."
Everyone knows that Devonairre Street in Brooklyn is cursed. Being loved by a Devonairre Street girl ends in tragedy. Just look at the number of war widows on the street or the concentration of Affected families left without husbands and fathers after the Times Square Bombing in 2001.
Lorna Ryder and her mother have never put much stock in the curse even though they pretend to play along. Lorna celebrates a shared birthday along with Cruz, his sister Isla, Charlotte, and Delilah. She keeps her hair long and wears a key around her neck. She does everything she is supposed to just the way Angelika has advised since Lorna was a child.
But none of it seems to be enough when Delilah's boyfriend Jack is killed in the wake of the grief and confusion surrounding another terrorist attack across the country. Lorna and her friends are shocked by Jack's sudden death. Grieving and shaken, Lorna has to decide what this new loss means about the veracity of the curse and her own future as a part of Devonairre Street and away from it in The Careful Undressing of Love (2017) by Corey Ann Haydu.
The Careful Undressing of Love is Haydu's latest standalone YA novel. Lorna narrates this novel with a breezy nonchalance which soon turns to fear and doubt as everything she previously believed about love and the curse on Devonairre Street is thrown into question. The style and tone work well with Haydu's world building to create an alternate history that is simultaneously timeless and strikingly immediate.
Haydu's characters are realistically inclusive and diverse. An argument could be made that it's problematic that Delilah and Isla (the Devonairre Street girls who are not white) are the ones who suffer more over the course of this novel filled with loss and snap judgements by an insensitive public. But the same argument could be made that privilege makes this outcome sadly inevitable--a contradiction that Lorna notes herself when she begins to unpack her own privileges of being white contrasted with the burdens she has under the weight of the supposed curse and living as one of the Affected.
This story is complicated and filled with philosophical questions about grief and fear as well as love and feminism. While there is room for a bit more closure, the fate of Devonairre Street and its residents ultimately becomes irrelevant compated with Lorna's need to break away to protect herself and her own future.
A quiet, wrenching story about the bonds of love and friendship and the ways in which they can break; a commentary on the stresses and pressures of being a girl in the modern world; and a story about self-preservation first. The Careful Undressing of Love is smart and strange, frank and raw, and devastating. Highly recommended.
Possible Pairings: The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle, The Midnight Dress by Karen Foxlee, Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, The Truth Commission by Susan Juby, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, Wild Swans by Jessica Spotswood, The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma, The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print
readingundertheradar's review
4.0
Like 4.5 stars; loved this author's magical and lyrical prose and was fascinated by this alternative yet familiar perspective on love and grief.
charmaineac's review
5.0
Corey Ann Haydu displays speculative fiction at its best. This is a world so similar to our own, with the needle pushed just a bit farther than we're comfortable with. This is 9/11 with a different response. This is Remembrance Day on steroids.
Is Devonnaire Street a cult? Is Angelika crazy? Probably. But when you're ostracized by the rest of the world, and you're suffering a tragedy, who else do you turn to? You go to the people who accept you and the people who understand what you've been through. I understand Delilah, and I understand Isla. That's what makes their behaviour all the more tragic.
I love Lorna and Cruz. I just want them to be happy. Is destiny against them? Is there any satisfying end to this? Lorna's realization on the roof was groundbreaking, but didn't make a ripple in the tapestry of their lives. How could something so important make no difference?
I guess the problem is that other people can always rationalize away something like love. Who are you to say what true love is? A big theme of this book is grappling with the idea of love, and how you know you're experiencing it. And it's also about the different kinds of love out there. Lorna's parents' story, for example, was also complicated and convoluted and so important. You'd think it's proof that the curse is wrong, but then tragedy mysteriously strikes again.
This story was so complex. Lorna and Cruz. Delilah and Jack. Charlotte and her secrets. Isla and her struggle to fit in and act out at the same time. The truth about Richard. The Bombings, the Affected, the Moments of Silence. The hate, oh, the endless hate. The lemons and the peonies... my goodness, this book had so much to it and felt so important.
It's so easy to blame a tragedy on someone else. It's so easy to believe something that everyone around you believes. California was an escape mechanism, but escaping gives power to the street. It means you believe that you really do have the power to hurt those around you. This review is definitely vague and convoluted, but it's a complex and rich story. The Careful Undressing of Love is definitely worth a read.
Is Devonnaire Street a cult? Is Angelika crazy? Probably. But when you're ostracized by the rest of the world, and you're suffering a tragedy, who else do you turn to? You go to the people who accept you and the people who understand what you've been through. I understand Delilah, and I understand Isla. That's what makes their behaviour all the more tragic.
I love Lorna and Cruz. I just want them to be happy. Is destiny against them? Is there any satisfying end to this? Lorna's realization on the roof was groundbreaking, but didn't make a ripple in the tapestry of their lives. How could something so important make no difference?
I guess the problem is that other people can always rationalize away something like love. Who are you to say what true love is? A big theme of this book is grappling with the idea of love, and how you know you're experiencing it. And it's also about the different kinds of love out there. Lorna's parents' story, for example, was also complicated and convoluted and so important. You'd think it's proof that the curse is wrong, but then tragedy mysteriously strikes again.
This story was so complex. Lorna and Cruz. Delilah and Jack. Charlotte and her secrets. Isla and her struggle to fit in and act out at the same time. The truth about Richard. The Bombings, the Affected, the Moments of Silence. The hate, oh, the endless hate. The lemons and the peonies... my goodness, this book had so much to it and felt so important.
It's so easy to blame a tragedy on someone else. It's so easy to believe something that everyone around you believes. California was an escape mechanism, but escaping gives power to the street. It means you believe that you really do have the power to hurt those around you. This review is definitely vague and convoluted, but it's a complex and rich story. The Careful Undressing of Love is definitely worth a read.