Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Lola in the Mirror

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Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton

25 reviews

lauradanby's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Where ‘Boy swallows universe’ felt like a love letter to Dalton’s family, ‘Lola in the mirror felt like a love letter to Brisbane. Living in Brisbane my whole life and being able to see the city through Dalton’s eyes was a treat. His inclusion of magical realism also gave a sparkle to the city.

The use of artwork and extended metaphors used throughout are absolutely beautiful.

I also enjoyed Dalton’s commentary on ‘houselessness’, the welfare system, cost of living, and the impact that the upcoming Olympics is having on the city.

However, I did find that the middle of the novel did drag a bit at times. I also felt like at times he drew from the same formula of ‘Boy swallows universe’ where he ended the story with an epic cat and mouse chase which I did find myself skilling over a bit at times.

I also felt like all the loose strings tied up a bit too nicely and conveniently which did detract from the overall message I felt.

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peachybee53's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

It's difficult to put into words, but this book has reminded me to believe in art and magic and love of all kinds. Trent Dalton has a really beautiful way of twisting darkness and beauty together in a way that feels both poetic and like a genuine reflection of real-life.

Our protagonist is endearing, honest, creative, intuitive, curious and determined. A dreamer whose ultimate goal is to find herself. She has the ability to see strangers in their quiet moments and wants nothing more than to be seen in return.

Some favourite quotes:

"The world turns for us all. One day you'll wake up and you'll realise the world has turned back upright for you and every bad thing you didn't deserve on the downside is made up for by every good thing rushing at you on the upside. You'll look up one day and see some face and suddenly it'll all make sense and all that bad downside stuff will seem entirely necessary. It'll just be ordinary life, it'll just be the normal turning of the world, but it'll feel miraculous to you. It'll feel engineered for you. It'll feel designed, drawn up by one of those crazy sketches you do. You'll call it fate. You'll say it was meant to be. And maybe it was. Because that's all the world was ever meant to do. Turn. And you were meant to turn with it."

"Lucky moon, she told herself, because every moon you see is lucky because you are still alive to see it."

"When you scream 'colourful' underwater it looks and sounds like you're screaming 'I love you."

"Being alive is a thing that you touch and see and feel. As real a thing as electricity. Do you feel that? It's The Alive."

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gillzzzo's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Took me a little bit of time to get into because (like all Trent Dalton books) it’s a little bit weird at times. Really ramped up towards the end though.

Very creative and quite emotional!!

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prime_minister_dinkleson's review

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tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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whatzoreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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noosayag's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Trent Dalton is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors.

This incredible book is about art, love, loss, hope, despair, magic and the dangerous criminal underbelly of Brisbane. If you loved Boy Swallows Universe, this book is for you. If you didn't, still read Lola in the Mirror and then give Boy Swallows Universe a re-read.

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baikiebookie's review

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

My favourite Trent Dalton book! The pace was medium for most of the time and then it gets fast towards the end. Other Trent dalton books make me lose my focus half way through, but the pacing is much more steady. I love the geographical references. Other books did this a bit too much, but I didn’t feel it with this one.

I didn’t get the whole police officer saying it’s the saddest story ever heard. The story was saddest but didn’t live up to the hype of the saddest story ever.

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