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carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
In the words of the late great Aretha Franklin, "beautiful gowns."
Lovely lovely writing and atmosphere, but what else was going on? nothing. truly felt like i was a long island socialite lounging about doing jackshit during a hotass 1920s summer...plus vague magic? idk. can't tell if the fact that i read The Great Gatsby nearly a decade ago hurt or helped my enjoyment of this book. i remember loving Fitzgerald's prose, and the same is true of Vo's. I'd pick up any book she wrote simply because her writing is so nice. Plot and and especially world-building? Leaving significantly much to be desired.
Wish the magic system was explored more. I don't really understand how it works or its significance in the world. Not really sure what demoniac is either. She mentions the Manchester Act a couple times, but I wish she went more in-depth into Jordan's identity as a queer and Asian member of high society.
Lovely lovely writing and atmosphere, but what else was going on? nothing. truly felt like i was a long island socialite lounging about doing jackshit during a hotass 1920s summer...plus vague magic? idk. can't tell if the fact that i read The Great Gatsby nearly a decade ago hurt or helped my enjoyment of this book. i remember loving Fitzgerald's prose, and the same is true of Vo's. I'd pick up any book she wrote simply because her writing is so nice. Plot and and especially world-building? Leaving significantly much to be desired.
Wish the magic system was explored more. I don't really understand how it works or its significance in the world. Not really sure what demoniac is either. She mentions the Manchester Act a couple times, but I wish she went more in-depth into Jordan's identity as a queer and Asian member of high society.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Racism, Xenophobia, Vomit, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Grief, and Death of parent
sinamile's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Damn!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: Infidelity, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Vomit, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse, Car accident, Abortion, and Toxic friendship
mynameisrebecca's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book felt like Nghi Vo took "retelling" as an excuse to not develop her world or story properly. The prose and writing is beautiful, but every idea and character felt underbaked. You need to know Gatsby to fully understand this book too - I wouldn't recommend going in blind.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Blood, Car accident, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism and War
salicer's review against another edition
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Racism
basementofbooks's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: Car accident and Abortion
Minor: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Deportation
sful40's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I would say that it portrays the messiness of relationships well and a decent portrayal of self-acceptance/ self-hatred. There were many times throughout the book the Jordan reminds us that she is Vietnamese but she is also like her white counterparts with how she was raised. I wished the book touched on more about her struggle with it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism
Minor: Domestic abuse and Racism
writewithapendragon's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book is short but it took me a longer time to read than I expected. Vo’s prose is beautifully poetic, each word carefully chosen. I want to go back and annotate, I enjoyed the language so much. Gatsby itself is so over-done that I wasn’t expecting this to be so unique and captivating, but it is a truly singular work.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation
lolajh's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Wow. What a rollercoaster. Such a promising lead up, I loooooved Jordan in the original, and was really rooting for an eventual romance between her and Daisy in this 😫 It fr would have been so perfect for Daisy to realise at the very end she didn’t care for Tom or Gatsby and instead Jordan had been there waiting for her the whole time. They kissed and had such a homoerotic relationship already it would have been perfect but a much weaker middle Nick and Jordan’s relationship made me so mad it was so toxic and jordan didn’t even really like him and end WHAT THE FUCK EVEN HAPPENED , especially regarding the magical realism fantasy bits that I really feel didn’t properly meld with the rest of the book. A lot of things were really disappointing, especially regarding the likability of Jordan as a main character when she was one of the only redeeming qualities I could find about the original. Jordan seemed quite manipulative and fake a lot of the time, and none of this was really explained. A perfect explanation for her choosing to stay with Nick all that time while she internally complained about him would be that she was FUCKING IN LOVE WITH DAISY yet she never (properly) admitted that and instead just gaslighted Daisy at the end when they were so close to actually addressing their relationship. Even if they just remained friends, I would’ve loved to see them have a happy ending together, even if Jordan had to go with her and Tom. I feel like the fight between them over Gatsby running over that girl was weird and Daisy was just obviously traumatised like everyone else was by seeing a dead body, especially when Daisy actually saw Gatsby kill them and then went through him dying as well. I loved Daisy, honestly wishing all the best for her and was rooting for her the whole time. Her character is just so real, I loved her in the original as well and think she was written well in this. Just the direction this book went and different weird elements like the fantasy stuff and a hint of incest???? Where jordan got jealous of Daisy flirting with Nick (Daisy and Nick are cousins????) Weird plot point, but anyway. I shouldn’t have gone into this hoping for certain things like a sapphic romance because the author never promised that and that isn’t fair. Was still disappointed anyway, but oh well!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Car accident
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Abortion, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Vomit
augustrogue's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Gorgeously evocative - vicious and incisive and subversive in the best possible ways. Each sentence felt so precise and surprising, like no word was wasted or out of place. I loved how everyone was casually queer and messily all in each other's business.
So why did it take me over 2 months to read this fairly short novel? I could not tell you. Possibly it was because it often took a lot of concentration to follow and parse each sentence's meaning, and when I tend to read before bed, this would lead to me nodding off after only reading a few pages. There were a few times that the story suddenly slipped into a flashback and I wasn't sure what time the scene took place, and other times I *thought* we had flashed back but then that scene actually had been current.
But it is an absolutely gorgeous book overall. The magical elements were fascinating and very memorable. I found this parallel universe 1920's U.S. very compelling.
So why did it take me over 2 months to read this fairly short novel? I could not tell you. Possibly it was because it often took a lot of concentration to follow and parse each sentence's meaning, and when I tend to read before bed, this would lead to me nodding off after only reading a few pages. There were a few times that the story suddenly slipped into a flashback and I wasn't sure what time the scene took place, and other times I *thought* we had flashed back but then that scene actually had been current.
But it is an absolutely gorgeous book overall. The magical elements were fascinating and very memorable. I found this parallel universe 1920's U.S. very compelling.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Car accident
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Abortion, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Vo's prose is as lovely as ever, and the magical realism elements are interesting, but the added magic and focus on Jordan are really the only major divergences from Gatsby -- overall, the story felt heavily reliant on the reader already being familiar with Gatsby (which I say as someone who is Very Normal about Gatsby), and I don't know that it really offers any more nuanced or thorough a glance at most of the characters, including Jordan. Could have definitely been a lot more fleshed out and more of a genuine retelling than effectively a companion novel, just feels a bit disjointed and shallow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Car accident, Abortion, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicide, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and War