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peach_plum_pear_dear's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism
yoursam's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Gosh, the book itself is good. Time-loops/time travel stories are some of my personal favorite so I really took to this quickly, but we can't ignore that ending right? Like, I'll close an eye to the way veiled sexism (justified by making Belle a truly despicable character, though sexism is sexism so yeah. whatever, moving on) throughout the text because I'm just willing to do that but that ending...
Uncle Danny doesn't spend a single second with "technically adult" Ricky and yet he still thinks of marrying her. It's actually one of the very first things he thinks of when he wakes up in the year 2000 the very first time, before the idea of time traveling back is even a speck of an idea in the back of his mind. It's fucking mind boggling, the contrast and abrupt switch from "I care for this child, I saw her grow up, she's a smart young lady" to the "Yeah, I'm doing all this to marry you" at the end of the book.
It wasn't necessary, it ruined a perfectly good story and left a bitter taste in my mouth because really, what kind of person can not only think to add that to their little sci-fi story but also decide that, yes, actually that's a perfectly reasonable turn to take? It's.... upsetting. Just genuinely upsetting. You introduce Dan as a thirty-something man and then introduce Ricky as a child. Which she is. For literally 90% of the book. It is weird at best and fucking grooming/predatory at worst. Who wouldn't be taken aback by the story ending up as it does? Why add romance at all? Marriage doesn't make family, not to mention that they basically were already family by virtue of the close relationship kids often have with their parents' closest friends.
I don't know why I'm typing this up, just me ranting to myself really, but I'm baffled. And, again, upset. Because it did ruin the book for me, I was quite enjoying it before I realized that's where we were headed. Everything else was so fun; the narration, the plot, the idea of someone freezing themselves until the next century only to time travel back to where they came from. It really was fun! But holy shit, right?
It wasn't necessary, it ruined a perfectly good story and left a bitter taste in my mouth because really, what kind of person can not only think to add that to their little sci-fi story but also decide that, yes, actually that's a perfectly reasonable turn to take? It's.... upsetting. Just genuinely upsetting. You introduce Dan as a thirty-something man and then introduce Ricky as a child. Which she is. For literally 90% of the book. It is weird at best and fucking grooming/predatory at worst. Who wouldn't be taken aback by the story ending up as it does? Why add romance at all? Marriage doesn't make family, not to mention that they basically were already family by virtue of the close relationship kids often have with their parents' closest friends.
I don't know why I'm typing this up, just me ranting to myself really, but I'm baffled. And, again, upset. Because it did ruin the book for me, I was quite enjoying it before I realized that's where we were headed. Everything else was so fun; the narration, the plot, the idea of someone freezing themselves until the next century only to time travel back to where they came from. It really was fun! But holy shit, right?
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexism