elnechnntt's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
ell_n's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-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
jettiedabs's review against another edition
5.0
I picked this up on a whim - for a change of pace from my usual murder mystery, for Pride Month, for a little escapism. It held my attention well and was suitably easy to read, as per the goal; for what it is (filth) there is surprisingly little out-of-this-world sex and is a little disappointing in its normalcy, but then perhaps that's partly the point.
For easy reading it's a good example; a likeable protagonist, a complicated supporting cast but without a complicated plot, and a subtlety to the undertones that might go unnoticed in too quick a read.
Setting this high on my rating scale, though - the writing is wonderful. Not least for the queerness that's not actually presented but is, just, there. Y'know, like in real life... And I love that it's not ABOUT sexuality, it's about navigating relationships and regrets and pressures and doubts. It's about the awkward part of your twenties where life seems to be happening around you rather than to you, and Violet represents a lot of people in at least some respect.
I am surprised this is a debut novel for how rounded it is.
For easy reading it's a good example; a likeable protagonist, a complicated supporting cast but without a complicated plot, and a subtlety to the undertones that might go unnoticed in too quick a read.
Setting this high on my rating scale, though - the writing is wonderful. Not least for the queerness that's not actually presented but is, just, there. Y'know, like in real life... And I love that it's not ABOUT sexuality, it's about navigating relationships and regrets and pressures and doubts. It's about the awkward part of your twenties where life seems to be happening around you rather than to you, and Violet represents a lot of people in at least some respect.
I am surprised this is a debut novel for how rounded it is.
csparkes_'s review against another edition
funny
reflective
medium-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
3.75
rubywarhol's review against another edition
5.0
Obligatory TW: Eating disorder and body image issues mention on page 149-150, 163, 245-246 and 318, assault with some good old victim blaming on page 252-255, rape with gaslighting on 257-259. Infant loss as a background theme throughout the last third of the book but nothing graphic.
-
I started this book in the middle of reading another one because I was on holiday and it seemed like a good beach read, and was surprised by how suddenly it went from "funny broke girl having orgies in fancy house" to deep psychological reflection, social commentary on power, age, class anxiety, and themes ranging from loss to emotional abuse.
The poetic writing style with wordy, elaborate descriptions was exactly my jam. Imagine Nina LaCour for slightly older girls, Dolly Alderton for slightly younger girls, or Sally Rooney for people who aren't acutely suicidal (or those who want to at least read about a character who isn't). There's a more hopeful and excitable tone throughout the book while not lacking the same sharp, self-critical observations.
Like the above-mentioned authors, Daisy Buchanan has also made her protagonist a feminist and #sjw in every way. Violet says it like it is when she speaks out about the shame surrounding sex and bodies that we were taught since childhood. Her story explores people-pleasing, boundaries and confidence, poverty and the longing for human connection, jealousy, the closeness of friendship and what it's like to grow apart, and missing someone while slowly realising how awful they really were.
She never directly says "capitalism is bad" because she doesn't have to. Seemingly glorifying the "rich people's world" at first, it quickly becomes clear that she is being taken advantage of.
This book is what Naoise Dolan was trying to write when she wrote "Exciting Times". Although "Insatiable" seems to be less popular for whatever reason, it properly gets to the point without being boring.
As for the writing style, it was an easy read with the casual slang, unusual metaphors, funny and sarcastic comments. Every sentence was inspiringly detailed, honest, and philosophical.
What also made a difference was the rather large font size (13? 14?) that was chosen, which made it more pleasant and motivating to read. I immediately got into it and couldn't stop reading because it was so easy to concentrate on.
The main character is likeable because of how openly she displays her imperfections to the reader while desperately trying to conceal them from everyone else in the book. She's the typical naive "hot mess" just trying to get by, living small while dreaming big, and it's quite endearing.
We follow her through the little relatable moments, the desperation and loneliness of being in your twenties, with magical moments such as eating Reduced To Clear birthday cakes for dinner because you're broke, contemplating the importance of dresses, or writing stream of consciousness journals at the office pretending you're working.
I really liked her character arc, although I thought the ending felt a bit rushed but maybe I'm just mad that it had an ending at all.
Here are some of my favourite quotes:
"Everyone's life has a self-destruct button. Surely we've all walked over a bridge, or looked through a window, or just crossed a road and thought, Shall I fuck it up? I could ruin everything, forever! Usually, the moment passes, the mood fades, we resist temptation like ex-smokers turning down cigarettes, bolstering a resolve that has been softened by a second glass of wine. But the second you start to touch the button, once you have traced its outline with your fingertips, imagined the weight of the click, the feeling of release, and imagined letting go of everything, surrendering all your power and letting your life spin entirely out of control as you walk away from it... that's when you become a kid in the cockpit, frozen to the spot as your plane falls out of the sky."
- p. 21
"I hate that at least once a day something will make me forget what happened, and then I have to remember it all over again. The shock is worse than the sadness. It's violent."
- p. 45
"Maybe there are thousands of people who have threesomes with their colleges all the time, and I'm the prude for wondering whether it's odd. I've spent so much of my life being good, worrying and questioning every single desire I've had. Perhaps other people go off and explore these great, strange, voluptuous bloomings, and then go home and wash their faces and go to sleep and go to work and manage to keep everything wholly discrete."
- p. 64
"I take a sip (definitely proper champagne) and decide the in the unlikely event that I see a framed slogan that tells me what to do and how to feel about it, I'm going back to Streatham. I can deal with a dungeon, but not a sign to 'Keep calm and carry on spanking.' "
- p. 71
"From the start, Mark and I cast each other in awkward caricatures, exaggerated roles - and then contorted ourselves to complement this distorted version of The Other, bending and twisting into shapes that bounced between our wrongly reflected selves, a haunted hall of mirrors. I suggested that we go to the farmers' market because I thought I wanted to be the sort of woman who was prepared to spend several of her precious weekend hours deciding whether or not to spend thirty pounds on a jar of honey. Mark, I think, liked the legitimacy of it."
- p. 108
"There is something deeply arousing about objectifying myself - I can see what he sees, and it gives me respite from the constant noise in my head. It is liberating to let myself become two dimensional for a moment, albeit with tits that are indisputably 3D."
- p. 129
"I will never, ever do anything bad again if I can just pretend that reality is suspended in this one room. Bloody hotels. They make you feel safe enough to be dangerous. They trick you into believing that nothing you do inside them could possibly count outside, afterwards."
- p. 132
"When I started uni, I'd fantasised about reinventing myself. I wasn't going to be the nerd who always puts her hand up before the teacher had finished the question. I wasn't going to be the breathless, enthusiastic, chubby, mockable girl any more. I could be enigmatic, sophisticated, restrained. The trouble was that I'd always been a little bit too much to compensate for my crippling shyness. Shutting up didn't make me feel sexy or mysterious - it only served to reinforce my awkwardness."
- p. 148
"I had grown up believing that a female body was a problem to be solved. I had to emphasise its most narrow points and conceal the widest ones."
- p. 150
"I feel like I'm gambling, and I'm scared that if I throw everything into the idea of this new job and new life, I might end up with no jobs at all. I have become emotionally incontinent, and what I really need is a condom for my heart."
- p. 155
"I hear so much unspoken pain in that unfinished sentence. Mimi's beauty and status does not protect her from the hell of womanhood - constantly searching for clues and costumes that will allow us to work out exactly who we should be."
- p. 162
"I remember wondering what was wrong with me, whether I had won some sort of life competition, whether being sad was simply an inevitable tax on being safe, whether I should think myself lucky, lucky, lucky."
- p. 188
"I wish I loved my body, like the adverts told me to. I'd love to embrace body positivity, but it makes me feel as though the rug has been pulled from under me. When I was growing up, every single message I heard about beauty and being a woman made me feel as though I looked all wrong. Now, I'm told that my brain is wrong too - if I can't love my body, I'm failing at feminism."
- p.228
"Perhaps Lottie and Simon just don't understand that they're dangling a life-changing opportunity in front of me, because they can't imagine how it feels to live a life that needs to be changed so badly."
- p.228
"There's a moment when I'm half dozing on a lounger, and I'm just aware of Sasha tucking a strand of hair behind my ear before balancing a straw hat on my head, and something tender is stirred up inside for a second, but I shift, and it goes away. It's a mental mistake, a bit of faulty wiring confusing one kind of touch for the other. It's a little bit like the never-not-depressing experience of coming home, being bewitched by other people's cooking smells and realising you have to try to make dinner out of some sour milk and half a fluffy lemon. Surely Sasha isn't home, she is just someone steady in a sea of strangeness. I'm tired and bewildered and I can't trust anyone to say what they mean. I can't trust myself to understand them."
- p.250
"I want it to feel good. I want this to be hot. The trouble is, I am suddenly realising, is that average sex can be terrible. If there's a moment when it takes me out of my body, even partly, and returns me to my head, the place I'm constantly trapped in during real life, I feel itchy and grumpy, distracted, resentful."
- p. 269
"And I could have backtracked, pretended that the message was sent in error, or that I'd come down with food poisoning in the last twenty seconds, but when I commit to doing something stupid, I like to see it through. Especially when the stupid thing is happening in a place that sells alcohol and is situated within five miles of my flat."
- p. 279
"I had wondered what it would be like to touch him again, whether some old muscle memory would take over and I'd throw myself into his arms, finding him as revoltingly irresistible as the smell of fried food.
It isn't like that. Right now, being with Mark feels like seeing an old picture taken during the school holidays. He's a centre parting, a silly hat, a sweet squint and sunburn. I feel affection, confusion, but no real nostalgia. The longing is missing."
- p. 281
"Once again, I thought of my mum and dad, and their reaction to our engagement. At the time, I'd badly wanted to believe they were happy for me. Now, I realise that for them it held the same meaning as my A level results day. They were relieved that I hadn't let them down. I was doing my job as a young woman, which meant that no one could accuse them of not doing theirs properly.
Then I would have children, and Mark would be their father, and I'd repeat the process, holding my breath and waiting for everything to go wrong, crossing my fingers that exams were passed, curfews were observed, experiments with drugs and alcohol were kept to a minimum and that teen years were pregnancy-free.
What did I want? What would I do if I could do what I liked? What would happen if I let myself dream, instead of simply trying to stay out of trouble? Was there a world in which I didn't become a wife, a mother, my mother? Where I didn't feel guilty about everything from hangovers to coming into the office at ten past nine to not ironing my bed sheets? (...) I make such a mess of things when I'm trying to be good - if I did what I really wanted, cities would probably fall into the sea."
- p. 292
"I have been giving all of my power away, on purpose, because the alternative - taking charge - was terrifying, and I was exhausted from running away. But I think I might be ready to acknowledge my power, and use it for good."
- p. 311
"I can put up with a lot of loneliness, a lot of slammed doors and silences, if it means I can briefly belong. My heart aches for a drop of love. It doesn't need much."
- p. 323
"I wonder whether she can truly love anyone, or whether she just uses one strong feeling to distract herself from another. Just like I do. (...) Sometimes I wonder whether I am mourning something that has yet to happen to me. Maybe I'm like them. Maybe I can't love the way the other people love, and I just need to find enough to rescue myself, to protect myself from that which does not nourish me or make me strong.
I used to believe that life was something it was possible to protect yourself from. I thought everyone else knew the rules and if I watched what they did for long enough, I'd be safe. I wouldn't feel left out any more. I would do anything if there was a chance it might have made me feel real, or just included. Now I know that we're all just idiot children in the dark. There is no plan for me."
- p. 328
-
I started this book in the middle of reading another one because I was on holiday and it seemed like a good beach read, and was surprised by how suddenly it went from "funny broke girl having orgies in fancy house" to deep psychological reflection, social commentary on power, age, class anxiety, and themes ranging from loss to emotional abuse.
The poetic writing style with wordy, elaborate descriptions was exactly my jam. Imagine Nina LaCour for slightly older girls, Dolly Alderton for slightly younger girls, or Sally Rooney for people who aren't acutely suicidal (or those who want to at least read about a character who isn't). There's a more hopeful and excitable tone throughout the book while not lacking the same sharp, self-critical observations.
Like the above-mentioned authors, Daisy Buchanan has also made her protagonist a feminist and #sjw in every way. Violet says it like it is when she speaks out about the shame surrounding sex and bodies that we were taught since childhood. Her story explores people-pleasing, boundaries and confidence, poverty and the longing for human connection, jealousy, the closeness of friendship and what it's like to grow apart, and missing someone while slowly realising how awful they really were.
She never directly says "capitalism is bad" because she doesn't have to. Seemingly glorifying the "rich people's world" at first, it quickly becomes clear that she is being taken advantage of.
This book is what Naoise Dolan was trying to write when she wrote "Exciting Times". Although "Insatiable" seems to be less popular for whatever reason, it properly gets to the point without being boring.
As for the writing style, it was an easy read with the casual slang, unusual metaphors, funny and sarcastic comments. Every sentence was inspiringly detailed, honest, and philosophical.
What also made a difference was the rather large font size (13? 14?) that was chosen, which made it more pleasant and motivating to read. I immediately got into it and couldn't stop reading because it was so easy to concentrate on.
The main character is likeable because of how openly she displays her imperfections to the reader while desperately trying to conceal them from everyone else in the book. She's the typical naive "hot mess" just trying to get by, living small while dreaming big, and it's quite endearing.
We follow her through the little relatable moments, the desperation and loneliness of being in your twenties, with magical moments such as eating Reduced To Clear birthday cakes for dinner because you're broke, contemplating the importance of dresses, or writing stream of consciousness journals at the office pretending you're working.
I really liked her character arc, although I thought the ending felt a bit rushed but maybe I'm just mad that it had an ending at all.
Here are some of my favourite quotes:
"Everyone's life has a self-destruct button. Surely we've all walked over a bridge, or looked through a window, or just crossed a road and thought, Shall I fuck it up? I could ruin everything, forever! Usually, the moment passes, the mood fades, we resist temptation like ex-smokers turning down cigarettes, bolstering a resolve that has been softened by a second glass of wine. But the second you start to touch the button, once you have traced its outline with your fingertips, imagined the weight of the click, the feeling of release, and imagined letting go of everything, surrendering all your power and letting your life spin entirely out of control as you walk away from it... that's when you become a kid in the cockpit, frozen to the spot as your plane falls out of the sky."
- p. 21
"I hate that at least once a day something will make me forget what happened, and then I have to remember it all over again. The shock is worse than the sadness. It's violent."
- p. 45
"Maybe there are thousands of people who have threesomes with their colleges all the time, and I'm the prude for wondering whether it's odd. I've spent so much of my life being good, worrying and questioning every single desire I've had. Perhaps other people go off and explore these great, strange, voluptuous bloomings, and then go home and wash their faces and go to sleep and go to work and manage to keep everything wholly discrete."
- p. 64
"I take a sip (definitely proper champagne) and decide the in the unlikely event that I see a framed slogan that tells me what to do and how to feel about it, I'm going back to Streatham. I can deal with a dungeon, but not a sign to 'Keep calm and carry on spanking.' "
- p. 71
"From the start, Mark and I cast each other in awkward caricatures, exaggerated roles - and then contorted ourselves to complement this distorted version of The Other, bending and twisting into shapes that bounced between our wrongly reflected selves, a haunted hall of mirrors. I suggested that we go to the farmers' market because I thought I wanted to be the sort of woman who was prepared to spend several of her precious weekend hours deciding whether or not to spend thirty pounds on a jar of honey. Mark, I think, liked the legitimacy of it."
- p. 108
"There is something deeply arousing about objectifying myself - I can see what he sees, and it gives me respite from the constant noise in my head. It is liberating to let myself become two dimensional for a moment, albeit with tits that are indisputably 3D."
- p. 129
"I will never, ever do anything bad again if I can just pretend that reality is suspended in this one room. Bloody hotels. They make you feel safe enough to be dangerous. They trick you into believing that nothing you do inside them could possibly count outside, afterwards."
- p. 132
"When I started uni, I'd fantasised about reinventing myself. I wasn't going to be the nerd who always puts her hand up before the teacher had finished the question. I wasn't going to be the breathless, enthusiastic, chubby, mockable girl any more. I could be enigmatic, sophisticated, restrained. The trouble was that I'd always been a little bit too much to compensate for my crippling shyness. Shutting up didn't make me feel sexy or mysterious - it only served to reinforce my awkwardness."
- p. 148
"I had grown up believing that a female body was a problem to be solved. I had to emphasise its most narrow points and conceal the widest ones."
- p. 150
"I feel like I'm gambling, and I'm scared that if I throw everything into the idea of this new job and new life, I might end up with no jobs at all. I have become emotionally incontinent, and what I really need is a condom for my heart."
- p. 155
"I hear so much unspoken pain in that unfinished sentence. Mimi's beauty and status does not protect her from the hell of womanhood - constantly searching for clues and costumes that will allow us to work out exactly who we should be."
- p. 162
"I remember wondering what was wrong with me, whether I had won some sort of life competition, whether being sad was simply an inevitable tax on being safe, whether I should think myself lucky, lucky, lucky."
- p. 188
"I wish I loved my body, like the adverts told me to. I'd love to embrace body positivity, but it makes me feel as though the rug has been pulled from under me. When I was growing up, every single message I heard about beauty and being a woman made me feel as though I looked all wrong. Now, I'm told that my brain is wrong too - if I can't love my body, I'm failing at feminism."
- p.228
"Perhaps Lottie and Simon just don't understand that they're dangling a life-changing opportunity in front of me, because they can't imagine how it feels to live a life that needs to be changed so badly."
- p.228
"There's a moment when I'm half dozing on a lounger, and I'm just aware of Sasha tucking a strand of hair behind my ear before balancing a straw hat on my head, and something tender is stirred up inside for a second, but I shift, and it goes away. It's a mental mistake, a bit of faulty wiring confusing one kind of touch for the other. It's a little bit like the never-not-depressing experience of coming home, being bewitched by other people's cooking smells and realising you have to try to make dinner out of some sour milk and half a fluffy lemon. Surely Sasha isn't home, she is just someone steady in a sea of strangeness. I'm tired and bewildered and I can't trust anyone to say what they mean. I can't trust myself to understand them."
- p.250
"I want it to feel good. I want this to be hot. The trouble is, I am suddenly realising, is that average sex can be terrible. If there's a moment when it takes me out of my body, even partly, and returns me to my head, the place I'm constantly trapped in during real life, I feel itchy and grumpy, distracted, resentful."
- p. 269
"And I could have backtracked, pretended that the message was sent in error, or that I'd come down with food poisoning in the last twenty seconds, but when I commit to doing something stupid, I like to see it through. Especially when the stupid thing is happening in a place that sells alcohol and is situated within five miles of my flat."
- p. 279
"I had wondered what it would be like to touch him again, whether some old muscle memory would take over and I'd throw myself into his arms, finding him as revoltingly irresistible as the smell of fried food.
It isn't like that. Right now, being with Mark feels like seeing an old picture taken during the school holidays. He's a centre parting, a silly hat, a sweet squint and sunburn. I feel affection, confusion, but no real nostalgia. The longing is missing."
- p. 281
"Once again, I thought of my mum and dad, and their reaction to our engagement. At the time, I'd badly wanted to believe they were happy for me. Now, I realise that for them it held the same meaning as my A level results day. They were relieved that I hadn't let them down. I was doing my job as a young woman, which meant that no one could accuse them of not doing theirs properly.
Then I would have children, and Mark would be their father, and I'd repeat the process, holding my breath and waiting for everything to go wrong, crossing my fingers that exams were passed, curfews were observed, experiments with drugs and alcohol were kept to a minimum and that teen years were pregnancy-free.
What did I want? What would I do if I could do what I liked? What would happen if I let myself dream, instead of simply trying to stay out of trouble? Was there a world in which I didn't become a wife, a mother, my mother? Where I didn't feel guilty about everything from hangovers to coming into the office at ten past nine to not ironing my bed sheets? (...) I make such a mess of things when I'm trying to be good - if I did what I really wanted, cities would probably fall into the sea."
- p. 292
"I have been giving all of my power away, on purpose, because the alternative - taking charge - was terrifying, and I was exhausted from running away. But I think I might be ready to acknowledge my power, and use it for good."
- p. 311
"I can put up with a lot of loneliness, a lot of slammed doors and silences, if it means I can briefly belong. My heart aches for a drop of love. It doesn't need much."
- p. 323
"I wonder whether she can truly love anyone, or whether she just uses one strong feeling to distract herself from another. Just like I do. (...) Sometimes I wonder whether I am mourning something that has yet to happen to me. Maybe I'm like them. Maybe I can't love the way the other people love, and I just need to find enough to rescue myself, to protect myself from that which does not nourish me or make me strong.
I used to believe that life was something it was possible to protect yourself from. I thought everyone else knew the rules and if I watched what they did for long enough, I'd be safe. I wouldn't feel left out any more. I would do anything if there was a chance it might have made me feel real, or just included. Now I know that we're all just idiot children in the dark. There is no plan for me."
- p. 328
linseyhermsen's review against another edition
2.0
I think I'm being very generous with rating this book 2 stars instead of 1 (but actually, it's a 1.5 star rating). I hate hate hate the main character. The casualness of bulimia and sexual assualt in this book is just appaling. And whoever named this 'lgbt romance' instead of 'lgbt drama' doesn't know what romance is. blegh. (really did like the cover though, maybe that's why it's a 1.5 instead of a 1.
yelenacherepanova's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
cloud_kitty_cat's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
2.75