Scan barcode
yleavy's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Some sweet moments, and I can see why people like this book. The characters all have moments of charm in that “uni student who thinks they are quirky” sort of way. The dialogue felt like it was coming from an afterschool special, with the characters using therapy words or helping each other reach a profound revelation in every conversation. Without the tense changes, the characters’ POVs would be difficult to tell apart, and the analogies were often more distracting than fitting. Examples include “our tongues shook hands” and “my heart grows thicker”.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Transphobia, Vomit, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
jamie_macdonald's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
If it hadnt been a book club read Bellies would have ended up in a dnf pile. A mixture of stunted, awkward prose and predictable, YA-style melodrama made this a really difficult book for me to get through.
I know that a lot of readers love this book and usually that's enough for me to find something to be excited about. In the case of Bellies, though, reading was nothing short of a chore. Boring, ill-realised characters; clumsy prose; weird sexual moralising; and tell dont show therapy speak dialogue make for a tough read.
Ultimately this is a book that just isn't for me. That's ok. Bellies is a sort of queer repackage of the Sally Rooney thing. There are queer characters and relationships sure; but that's really where the queerness stops. When a book is described as irresistibly queer on the cover, I expect/want that queerness to spread at least somewhat to form and style. Instead Bellies is just a pretty standard post-YA romance novel. You might love this book if you're into that, but it really isn't for me. Between that and kind of shoddy writing, it earns its one-star rating :(
I know that a lot of readers love this book and usually that's enough for me to find something to be excited about. In the case of Bellies, though, reading was nothing short of a chore. Boring, ill-realised characters; clumsy prose; weird sexual moralising; and tell dont show therapy speak dialogue make for a tough read.
Ultimately this is a book that just isn't for me. That's ok. Bellies is a sort of queer repackage of the Sally Rooney thing. There are queer characters and relationships sure; but that's really where the queerness stops. When a book is described as irresistibly queer on the cover, I expect/want that queerness to spread at least somewhat to form and style. Instead Bellies is just a pretty standard post-YA romance novel. You might love this book if you're into that, but it really isn't for me. Between that and kind of shoddy writing, it earns its one-star rating :(
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia and Dysphoria
Moderate: Eating disorder and Racism
More...