cheungayin_'s review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
ev4ngelia's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
tense
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
3.5
lestada's review against another edition
5.0
“The idea that he might like me radically revised my version of who we were.”
Stunning examination of one’s self, from slowly learning that curiosity is a double-edged sword that you need to learn how to use. Evidently it all falls apart, but if you hold it just right and use it to your advantage, you’ll learn that it can be a weapon of your desire. When one learns to come out of their shell, one tends to be vulnerable, inquisitive, and hungry. These are all valid feelings to have, but to what end? What would you do when one’s feelings will have to be confronted someday? And what would these feelings evolve to when you’ve grown out of it? Would it transformed into something palatable or confrontational? These all are the feelings that I’m feeling now.
Stunning examination of one’s self, from slowly learning that curiosity is a double-edged sword that you need to learn how to use. Evidently it all falls apart, but if you hold it just right and use it to your advantage, you’ll learn that it can be a weapon of your desire. When one learns to come out of their shell, one tends to be vulnerable, inquisitive, and hungry. These are all valid feelings to have, but to what end? What would you do when one’s feelings will have to be confronted someday? And what would these feelings evolve to when you’ve grown out of it? Would it transformed into something palatable or confrontational? These all are the feelings that I’m feeling now.
adambwriter's review against another edition
4.0
The Beautiful Room is Empty (1988) by Edmund White: http://classiclit.about.com/od/gaystudies/fl/The-Beautiful-Room-is-Empty-1988-by-Edmund-White.htm
superdilettante's review against another edition
4.0
Bohemian yearnings and bad relationships. Truly enjoyable.
zylon's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
robinhoodreads's review against another edition
Part two in Edmund White's autobiographical. Here we follow our narrator at 17, living in the pre-Stonewall era. He's still struggling with his sexuality and as such, meets a young girl and tries to fall in love with her. But part of what I love about this novel is how sex is what saves him. As he continues to have affairs with men, you can see him slowly starting to come into himself without shame. And thus we end with a revolution. One for the queer community, but mostly, a revolution inside of our narrator.
silver_lining_in_a_book's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75