The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
jillaay_h's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Adult/minor relationship
jcpdiesel21's review against another edition
2.0
Cool title and cover design, mediocre book. This starts strong and I immediately connected with Sheila and her mission to escape her stifling Iowa hometown for Paris. The introduction of Peter adds some intrigue and I was hooked by how their odd relationship quickly evolves. The story is definitely offbeat, but I willingly went along for the ride at first. However, once the setting changes, the story loses a lot of steam, and I was no longer interested in the characters or what happened after a late, major plot twist was revealed. The parallels to Spider-Man feel forced and clumsy, and Bruni aims to be profound with the ending, which I found to be a complete mess.
kellylynnthomas's review against another edition
5.0
I noticed a lot of reviewers giving this book low stars and complaining about the book's "plausibility." In my opinion, these reviewers are completely missing the point of the book.
The book's two protagonists take on the identities of comic book characters, and in many ways, begin to become them. The line between reality and fiction blurs for the characters and the reader. Coyotes serve as messengers, guides, friends. Things get a little weird. The prose gets slippery. The writing is a journey in and of itself, but one well worth taking--whether you come into it liking comics or not.
The author explores identity and our places in the world, and how we inhabit them or refuse them and go out in search of different, perhaps better (but perhaps not) places. The characters reject the identities they were given by their parents and the people around them and become new people, and while they set out to save another person, they wind up saving themselves -- even if it looks like they are getting into a giant mess. The author explores place as not just a physical thing, but a thing made up of the people and objects around us.
I thought the ending brought all of the books disparate strands together beautifully, with one exception -- we're left wondering what exactly happened to Sheila/Gwen's coyote companion. Perhaps this was on purpose. The author does not wrap things up neatly, there are many questions for the characters that don't get answered, and I'm fine with that. Bringing things together doesn't necessarily mean tying them up into a nice package. I like a book that leaves me wondering, even if I hate it at the same time.
The book's two protagonists take on the identities of comic book characters, and in many ways, begin to become them. The line between reality and fiction blurs for the characters and the reader. Coyotes serve as messengers, guides, friends. Things get a little weird. The prose gets slippery. The writing is a journey in and of itself, but one well worth taking--whether you come into it liking comics or not.
The author explores identity and our places in the world, and how we inhabit them or refuse them and go out in search of different, perhaps better (but perhaps not) places. The characters reject the identities they were given by their parents and the people around them and become new people, and while they set out to save another person, they wind up saving themselves -- even if it looks like they are getting into a giant mess. The author explores place as not just a physical thing, but a thing made up of the people and objects around us.
I thought the ending brought all of the books disparate strands together beautifully, with one exception -- we're left wondering what exactly happened to Sheila/Gwen's coyote companion. Perhaps this was on purpose. The author does not wrap things up neatly, there are many questions for the characters that don't get answered, and I'm fine with that. Bringing things together doesn't necessarily mean tying them up into a nice package. I like a book that leaves me wondering, even if I hate it at the same time.
black_girl_reading's review against another edition
3.0
Meh. I am willing to suspend disbelief for a good story, but this story wasn't really about anything at all.
rowantheeboat's review against another edition
1.0
It started off promising, but the ending was kinda sloppy. I also thought this would be about the actual Spiderman comic. I still decided to give it a try and don't recommend it.
tiffasaurusrex's review against another edition
3.0
Why are the stories slightly different from each person's point of view? Is it just the girl who's unreliable? It's not even first person, so is it the narrator who's unreliable? Why is there no real resolution, other than that of the nicknames being unnecessary? Not sure what to think about all this. The characters were also kind of distant, especially Gwen/Sheila.
renatasnacks's review against another edition
2.0
Guys, I don't even know? I picked this up because I was intrigued by the title, as a comics fan, but... okay. So I liked the start of the story. It's set in Iowa City/Coralville, which I liked, because I like Iowa City. The protagonists are a 17-year-old girl named Sheila, who works at a gas station, and a 20-something dude named Peter Parker, who frequents the gas station to buy cigarettes. Sheila suspects Peter Parker's ID is fake, because who would name their child after Spider-Man, right?
Anyway, at first I liked Sheila a lot. High school misfit, saving up her money to go to France after high school with no set plan because she doesn't want to go straight to college and she wants to get out of Iowa. So she listens to French CDs and practices while she works at the gas station. Get it, Sheila.
But then she lets herself be voluntarily kidnapped by Peter Parker and goes with him to Chicago? And he gives her a fake ID with the name Gwen Stacy, aka Peter Parker's first girlfriend who dies?? Again... I'm still interested, here. Is Peter going to kill her, or what.
Then... okay, I described the plot of this to a co-worker and she said it sounded like it was written as an exquisite corpse story. (You know, where you fold over the page and pass it to the next person and they write something without having seen your part.) I agree, or maybe like it were part of an improv scene where the author just kept saying "Yes, and."
???
Also it seemed like the Spider-Man thing was kind of used as a hook and then dropped?
I'd be way into reading a book that used comic book characters/archetypes as a way to explore relationships but I just found this very confusing and weird.
I'm seeing a lot of great reviews for it so it's totes possible that it just all went over my head. If anyone else I know has read it, I'd LOVE to talk about it.
Anyway, at first I liked Sheila a lot. High school misfit, saving up her money to go to France after high school with no set plan because she doesn't want to go straight to college and she wants to get out of Iowa. So she listens to French CDs and practices while she works at the gas station. Get it, Sheila.
But then she lets herself be voluntarily kidnapped by Peter Parker and goes with him to Chicago? And he gives her a fake ID with the name Gwen Stacy, aka Peter Parker's first girlfriend who dies?? Again... I'm still interested, here. Is Peter going to kill her, or what.
Then... okay, I described the plot of this to a co-worker and she said it sounded like it was written as an exquisite corpse story. (You know, where you fold over the page and pass it to the next person and they write something without having seen your part.) I agree, or maybe like it were part of an improv scene where the author just kept saying "Yes, and."
Spoiler
Yes, and... Peter has accurate visions of death. Yes, and... Peter's long-thought-dead brother is actually alive and well in Chicago. Yes, and... Gwen decides to kidnap Peter's brother. Yes, and... coyotes are taking to the streets of Chicago. Yes, and... Gwen has visions of talking coyotes.???
Also it seemed like the Spider-Man thing was kind of used as a hook and then dropped?
I'd be way into reading a book that used comic book characters/archetypes as a way to explore relationships but I just found this very confusing and weird.
I'm seeing a lot of great reviews for it so it's totes possible that it just all went over my head. If anyone else I know has read it, I'd LOVE to talk about it.
ktrusty416's review against another edition
Can't give it a rating because I didn't finish it. I have the attention span of a gerbil these days and unless I'm grabbed by, well, SOMETHING, then I drop it. Jeez, I can't even be bothered to write useful review. This book may deserve more than I can give it right now.
wathohuc's review against another edition
4.0
Wonderful first novel. Creative idea and interesting experimentations with narration chronology. Most of the time, the jumping back and forth in the story's chronology worked, but sometimes it was a bit confusing. The shift in perspective between Gwen/Sheila and Peter/Seth in the retelling of the same events was very revealing and well-done. But when an author shifts back and forth in the chronology, the difficulty in keeping events in sync becomes all the more salient. Although Bruni managed to keep these details mostly in order, I did find one problematic oversight. It is this: Jake Novak knows that Sheila is the kidnap victim in the news media, and one presumes that he saw the same media that Sheila saw. But Sheila recognizes the name "Novak" when she sees it sewn on Jake's work uniform as the same last name given by the news media to describe her own "abductor" Peter Parker (I.e. Seth Novak). Yet when Sheila encounters and kidnaps Jake, even though he knows who she is from the media reports, he somehow doesn't seem to know that her own kidnapper was his brother. This defies credibility. Nevertheless, I give the book mad props for creativity in conception and very good, tight writing.
444ivana's review against another edition
2.0
this book was boring for the most part, lowkey super problematic and has a really questionable ending that left me wondering what’s the point of it even being written