alisarae's review against another edition
5.0
Dark books about teenage girl friendships will always hit me in a good way. The writing and voice were perfect.
anfisa_zelen's review against another edition
5.0
First of all, this story absorbed me like sponge on water. In other words, I looked forward to picking up the book every day. Second, Marlena reads like non-fiction to me. It resurfaced the question of why we (or some of us? I have trouble imagining that not all of us) are drawn to self-destruction. I felt like the protagonist was like me, like it was living through the same development that I experienced around the age of 20. Yet, the novel pulled in so many details about the life in a tiny tourist town in northern Michigan, and about a meth lab, and about young drug abuse, that I felt as though the author has lived through this story when she was fifteen.
There is the other storyline of an alcoholic thirty-something narrator. I appreciated this one, but I wondered if this narrator's perception of her problem with alcohol was inflated. Maybe it was lack of detail, or maybe I just have experience of serial drunks that were way deeper in the sand.
The book, I think (I hope) made me a better person. The narrator talked about her mom in a way that made me consider forgiving mine.
Jonathan Safran Foer's blurb was true to its word - this novel really does have some hilarious sentences that I read to people that were riding the bus with me. They laughed at them, too. One sentence about two geeky girls skipping class only to hide in the bathroom, lest they be discovered, was a particularly good one.
There is the other storyline of an alcoholic thirty-something narrator. I appreciated this one, but I wondered if this narrator's perception of her problem with alcohol was inflated. Maybe it was lack of detail, or maybe I just have experience of serial drunks that were way deeper in the sand.
The book, I think (I hope) made me a better person. The narrator talked about her mom in a way that made me consider forgiving mine.
Jonathan Safran Foer's blurb was true to its word - this novel really does have some hilarious sentences that I read to people that were riding the bus with me. They laughed at them, too. One sentence about two geeky girls skipping class only to hide in the bathroom, lest they be discovered, was a particularly good one.
pchb's review against another edition
5.0
This will be one of those books I read over and over. I know it will occupy real estate in my brain. The blurb is technically true but incredibly misleading. I love reading about teenhood so I read a lot of YA but I would prefer to be reading this: a book about being a teen, reflecting on it, but definitely not YA. That keeps all the nastiness and griminess of it and celebrates how good it feels even when you know it's bad. How it affects you for the rest of your life. How we put so much weight on our adolescence. How we should be glorifying the mundanity of adulthood too. The sacrifices you make to get that mundanity. How you can be so close with someone and so many parts of them remain unknowable. How intoxicating friendship can be. The take on alcoholism in this book is nuanced in a way I haven't seen elsewhere in fiction. I think you would really like this book if you were once a girl, if you've ever felt yourself falling down a hole, if you've ever experienced someone spiraling and had no idea how to stop it or if you even should. If you were ever a teen and if you ever catch yourself still thinking about it.
emmasophierund's review against another edition
3.0
I listened to the audiobook of this. Liked it, but wasn't obsessed.
laurenplattman's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
etbliss's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
marlena :(
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug abuse and Sexual violence
alyciasocia's review against another edition
5.0
I’ve had Marlena on my shelf for a couple years, purchased at @pagesontheave in Detroit on a #smallbusinesssaturday . I read it in 24 hours, completely devoured the story about two teenage best friends -one with a wild heart and sad circumstances and one with a deep heart wrapping herself around the other. @juliebuntin captured northern Michigan and our early introduction into the opioid epidemic in a way that I have a hard time describing now that I’m more often on the east coast than my home state. This book reminded me of the infatuation I had with the idea of a best friend in my teens and early twenties and how self-destructive we can be when we’re treading through our own hardship that hasn’t quite made sense yet.
lilacs_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
cgreens's review against another edition
5.0
This is such an enjoyable and well-written book! It reminds me of the pleasure and joy of reading actual literature versus a lot of the more "plot based" books I've been into.
Buntin's writing is absolutely beautiful, and I love this female friendship coming of age story that actually has lower SES character representation.
One little detail I particularly like is that the title is the name of a main character, in the vein of Jane Eyre, Emma, Agnes Grey, etc., not just a vaguely related random phrase like almost every contemporary title.
Buntin's writing is absolutely beautiful, and I love this female friendship coming of age story that actually has lower SES character representation.
One little detail I particularly like is that the title is the name of a main character, in the vein of Jane Eyre, Emma, Agnes Grey, etc., not just a vaguely related random phrase like almost every contemporary title.