Reviews

this is either a reflection of the fact that i'm not well-read in the slightest, or a reflection of the pure genius that is this book. another recommendation from my dad and this hit the mark even more than the last. the first time i tried to pick this up, i got really busy and just couldn't get through it because it was so dense-- i'm so glad i returned to give it another try because it was worth it.

there are an immense amount of quotes that i wrote down and will fully enjoy copying down in my journal (my new favorite thing). i just simply cannot wrap my head around how artfully and expertly everything in this book ties together and manages to tug at your heartstrings.

i feel like nothing that i write here can put it to justice, honestly. i feel utterly dumb in the sense that this writer is so incredibly intelligent. the textbook use of irony and foil characters that i wish my younger self struggling to memorize definitions in english class could have read. although i wouldn't have been able to understand or appreciate it at that level.

and there's SO. MUCH. COMMENTARY. social, political, reflections on the general existence of people. i think i'll have to return to this book at some point because i know for a fact there are things that i haven't processed or will appreciate as an older adult with more life experience. so many things about politics, youth, & humans in general that made my head spin. i've never heard quite the same take on politics as a parallel to religion and the way that those structures are so similar...i will be thinking about this for the next while. "the young can't help playacting; themselves incomplete, they are thrust by life into a complete world where they are compelled to act fully grown." it's such a reflection on the way young people are forced to grow up too fast, to understand, to emulate adults who equally don't know what they are doing and are basically doing their own acting. humans are so interesting. this passage (and others) also had me thinking of boygenius' new song powers- some ideas are so similar it's almost as if they read this book before the song was written. i love connecting music i'm listening to with books i'm reading. my favorite pastime.

i should mention that this book was not an enjoyable read. it was upsetting and downright horrifying at times. but i do think that it is not without a purpose. there was romance, stripped of the romance part. joy, stripped of the joy. pleasure, stripped of the pleasure. the multiple perspectives made it clear that nothing was as it really was presented.

i'm still, however, giving this book four stars because although it was an utterly fascinating read and i gave it a glowing review, i simply cannot get around the utter misogyny that is the depiction of women in this book. i managed to read through it and move on, but presenting women simply as plot devices to further the agenda and character development of the man really did irk me. it feels like one of those books where the girl is only there to forgive the man and fall hopelessly in love with him. and this is way too modern of a novel to be doing all that. but this was tolerable for the genius of the story and still one of the best books i've ever read.