Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - A Very Nice Girl: A Novel

it’s a hard book to judge. on one hand, there are things i very much wish have happened (if this was a story unfolding in real life), on the other hand, there are literary devices employed here that i find interesting & well executed.

i do wish anna had more figurative meat on her bones, but i also appreciate how the author's chosen to portray her. that we never really see her on her own, always in reaction to someone else. even when she’s describing her childhood, when she’s with a teacher focused solely on her growth - she puts on a persona she assumes people want to see. it makes perfect sense for this kind of story. (and it makes the title strikingly accurate. anna will make anything to appeal to people, of course she's very nice.)

i do wish max got what he deserved, but at the same time he's a great depiction of a manipulative toxic misogynistic piece of shit. it’s interesting to see the way he drains anna's energy, the way he knows exactly what to say and how to act to make her feel small and worthless, and depended on him. everything anna does, max turns into a child’s play. if she feels vulnerable, she’s easier to manipulate, it's easier to get out of her (body) what he wants at any given moment. and the most interesting part of this whole show, is that the book leaves it up to us, as readers, to decide: does he do all those things deliberately or is he just an asshole?

(the way the book makes his actions and motivations a literal topic of conversation between anna and her friend might have been more smooth and natural, but still.)

so yes, everyone is slightly one-dimensional and the main character is sort of a blank page, and the story itself is as old as the world, but the devil's in the details, and those are gorgeous.

tw: dubious consent

Content Warnings

nzmerchant's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

Took me a while to get into this book because of all the parallels i could draw between the plot and my own life. But then I got hooked by how accurately the author was able to capture Anna’s thoughts and put into words things that i cannot - about trying to play the cool girl & the game of who cares the least in a situationship, feeling ashamed when recounting to people or thinking about the things you said or compromised for the sake of this other person. And i just feel so seen. It’s nice to know im not completely insane and has also helped me rationalise a lot of things.

Writing was v engaging and enjoyable too - sally rooney esque with the lack of quotation marks and all that jazz. A tad pretentious and can’t say I actually liked any of the characters but overall, a great debut novel and im looking forward to more sad gurl books.

Content Warnings

differentsisters's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

All the characters were horrible people.
There was no point to this story. It led nowhere.
This was not enjoyable to read.
Bad.

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leahb88's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense slow-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

3.0

This book explored Anna’s relationship to art and her career as an opera singer, and her need for connection and belonging. She finds that in Max, a wealthy businessman who bathes her in the brightest sun and shades her in the darkest clouds. She contorts herself into a different version of a woman that each person expects her to be in order to navigate both desires and the classism she experiences in both. This felt like reading the thoughts and consciousness of the narrators mind. It felt very introspective and it really got me on the rollercoaster with Anna. I was so annoyed with her at times though, maybe that’s kind of the point of her whole character arc, growing as a person thing, but sometimes I just couldn’t get over my frustration with her. Overall though I was invested in my journey with her and I pulled lots of great quotes from this book.

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