The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
georgina_bawden's review against another edition
4.0
Brilliantly written, dealing with the complex relationship between two women, and their art. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Meadow is slightly insufferable at times with her auteur sensibilities and tendency to dismiss the more mainstream work of her friend Carrie, a kind of Nora Ephron-esque director of subversive feminist comedies. But is also complicated and fascinating and self aware - and seeing her through the eyes of her friend made this a very touching novel at times. I'm still digesting it, but it reminded me of The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North which also deals with a filmmaker and her relationships and her ability or lack thereof to interact with the world and the people who love her. So much so that I was expecting a very similar ending. If you liked this book you should definitely try the other.
lvw22's review against another edition
1.0
Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reading copy of this book. Regretfully, I just could not finish it. The writing isn't bad, but the book is too scattered and all over the place. The characters are underdeveloped, and I didn't really care about any of them. This is not one I would recommend.
bernie4evah's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
tbsims's review against another edition
5.0
Reminds you of the ponderous college films that think they are arty, thoughtful, insightful, and actually ARE.
The article by Carrie about her childhood perfectly captures an era. First of the latch-key kids and tv watching afternoons and Saturday mornings.
And thinking further on the book - the map of your childhood potential to your later destination; its a fascinating path.
The article by Carrie about her childhood perfectly captures an era. First of the latch-key kids and tv watching afternoons and Saturday mornings.
And thinking further on the book - the map of your childhood potential to your later destination; its a fascinating path.
stellar_pm28's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
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
4.0
thesinginglights's review against another edition
4.0
Dana Spiotta is so thematically rich that you can't get everything the first time through. To this day, I'm daunted by the review because I can't possibly think where to start.
If I had to present the themes of the book pithily, it would be a book about connection. Authentic, truthful connection, and how one can craft meaning in a world so filled with artifice.
If I was to attack narratively it's about two filmmakers, Carrie and Meadow, who over the course of their lives drift apart. Braided with this story is Jelly, a woman is really good at talking to lonely men on the phone due to her brilliant voice and top-notch listening skills. These three connect in interesting ways. While I wouldn't say the characters are shallow, Spiotta's interests are clearly thematic and they're lovingly done to perhaps not the haunting heights of my personal favourite of hers, Stone Arabia, but with important lessons about our relationship with ourselves and each other.
The choice for having the main characters be filmmakers is clear. Cameras aren't truth. They're a lens: they refract, distort, they frame things simply due to the fact that what we the audience see is the result of someone's efforts to choose what images and sounds make it to us. In doing so, we frame things. True things, but told in a specific way that can easily distort. That might be part of the hypnotic tendency to enjoy TV, films, entertainment, etc. that can deaden you, leaving you "wanting something deeper and more satisfying". I can't help be drawn to the connection to Infinite Jest, and how we use entertainment to pacify us to the detriment of true connection. It's not absurd to make the connection to social media, where you can find yourself scrolling endlessly, not interacting or being satisfied, but not being able to tear away from it either. I think the fact that it's not very much set in the present day helps the book rather than hurts it. There's a beauty of the specificity of being set a couple of decades ago.
Later, where Meadow is making a documentary on people who had suffered traumas, she realises with growing horror that the content itself wasn't exploitative or judgemental in any obvious way, but the audience would see in a specific light: happy with "the power and privilege of not getting too involved", watching but not engaging.
The book is an urgent quest into finding truth in a world in which our lives are shaped so much by framing. Spiotta's brilliance is weaving theme and characters so that theme never took too much away from the people who were living it, acting through it, and suffering because of it. Due to that, I think aspects of this will sit for me for a long time and inevitably will imprint themselves deeper on me when I revisit it.
If I had to present the themes of the book pithily, it would be a book about connection. Authentic, truthful connection, and how one can craft meaning in a world so filled with artifice.
If I was to attack narratively it's about two filmmakers, Carrie and Meadow, who over the course of their lives drift apart. Braided with this story is Jelly, a woman is really good at talking to lonely men on the phone due to her brilliant voice and top-notch listening skills. These three connect in interesting ways. While I wouldn't say the characters are shallow, Spiotta's interests are clearly thematic and they're lovingly done to perhaps not the haunting heights of my personal favourite of hers, Stone Arabia, but with important lessons about our relationship with ourselves and each other.
The choice for having the main characters be filmmakers is clear. Cameras aren't truth. They're a lens: they refract, distort, they frame things simply due to the fact that what we the audience see is the result of someone's efforts to choose what images and sounds make it to us. In doing so, we frame things. True things, but told in a specific way that can easily distort. That might be part of the hypnotic tendency to enjoy TV, films, entertainment, etc. that can deaden you, leaving you "wanting something deeper and more satisfying". I can't help be drawn to the connection to Infinite Jest, and how we use entertainment to pacify us to the detriment of true connection. It's not absurd to make the connection to social media, where you can find yourself scrolling endlessly, not interacting or being satisfied, but not being able to tear away from it either. I think the fact that it's not very much set in the present day helps the book rather than hurts it. There's a beauty of the specificity of being set a couple of decades ago.
Later, where Meadow is making a documentary on people who had suffered traumas, she realises with growing horror that the content itself wasn't exploitative or judgemental in any obvious way, but the audience would see in a specific light: happy with "the power and privilege of not getting too involved", watching but not engaging.
The book is an urgent quest into finding truth in a world in which our lives are shaped so much by framing. Spiotta's brilliance is weaving theme and characters so that theme never took too much away from the people who were living it, acting through it, and suffering because of it. Due to that, I think aspects of this will sit for me for a long time and inevitably will imprint themselves deeper on me when I revisit it.
jaclynday's review against another edition
3.0
A bizarrely intimate book bordering on the claustrophobic. The pacing was uneven, exacerbating the feeling that the walls were closing in on me the further I got in the story. It was an experience.
eric_roling's review against another edition
2.0
This book was rather unmemorable. I really didn't appreciate the characters' motivations, and didn't find their actions to be that noteworthy, either. One of those, "things happened, people got hurt, then it got better" books. I liked Meadow, and found her moviemaking interesting, but the author seemed to think it was profound, and I just didn't get there - she made movies, hurt some of her subjects, and had odd ideas. Not an interesting book.
kitty_golden's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0