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lawbooks600's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Representation: N/A?
Trigger warnings: N/A?
Score: Six points out of ten.
I don't know about this one, I had low expectations for this book after I read Don't Call Me Ishmael, made by the same author, and I didn't enjoy that book.
<b>Update</b>: This is a rather boring novel, if this was a rom-com, I didn't laugh once. I didn't enjoy any aspect of the book at all, despite the book being just over 200 pages. The two main characters were quite flat, Sebastian was just self-loathing, and Frida was rather moody, and that's it, the side characters didn't add much to the story as well. The story itself was rather flat, it's just the main two characters developing a relationship with one another, but I didn't feel anything for them, since they weren't well written in the first place.
The characters just move from place to place for no apparent reason and just contemplate and talk about random things, like the Pitch Drop Experiment, town planning, and writing a song (how are these things supposed to be relevant to the story?) The story was character-driven, so it described the settings minimally, which I didn't like. There was this one joke that was supposed to be funny but it wasn't, it was about a character called Tolly, and the joke was that it was a nickname for Leo Tolstoy, who made War and Peace, and one of the characters said that the name Warren Pearce sounds like War and Peace, I didn't laugh at that joke. If you want a good rom-com, skip this one and try The Sun is Also a Star. There's one more book I haven't read from this author called The Pain, Sir Tiffy, My Mother, Cyber Boy and Me and it looks interesting to me though I will go in with low expectations considering that I've read two of his novels already and they were only ok to say the least.
Trigger warnings: N/A?
Score: Six points out of ten.
I don't know about this one, I had low expectations for this book after I read Don't Call Me Ishmael, made by the same author, and I didn't enjoy that book.
<b>Update</b>: This is a rather boring novel, if this was a rom-com, I didn't laugh once. I didn't enjoy any aspect of the book at all, despite the book being just over 200 pages. The two main characters were quite flat, Sebastian was just self-loathing, and Frida was rather moody, and that's it, the side characters didn't add much to the story as well. The story itself was rather flat, it's just the main two characters developing a relationship with one another, but I didn't feel anything for them, since they weren't well written in the first place.
The characters just move from place to place for no apparent reason and just contemplate and talk about random things, like the Pitch Drop Experiment, town planning, and writing a song (how are these things supposed to be relevant to the story?) The story was character-driven, so it described the settings minimally, which I didn't like. There was this one joke that was supposed to be funny but it wasn't, it was about a character called Tolly, and the joke was that it was a nickname for Leo Tolstoy, who made War and Peace, and one of the characters said that the name Warren Pearce sounds like War and Peace, I didn't laugh at that joke. If you want a good rom-com, skip this one and try The Sun is Also a Star. There's one more book I haven't read from this author called The Pain, Sir Tiffy, My Mother, Cyber Boy and Me and it looks interesting to me though I will go in with low expectations considering that I've read two of his novels already and they were only ok to say the least.
missusb21's review
5.0
This cover is sort of perfect. Seemingly light and humorous on the surface, but ultimately a lot more going on underneath (of course).
This is both tender and hilarious. Bauer’s humour is restrained here, with the banter between Sebastian and best friend Tolly, a sharp witty back and forth, rather than anything physical or exaggerated. The compressed timeline of one day keeps the narrative moving, and one liners flowing. The gentle truth about the title, That will not stand, is a strong testament to pro-active people who refuse to see others suffer, or injustices perpetrated.
While it predominantly deals with the developing friendship between Sebastian and Frida, the subsequent revealing secrets they both hide, Bauer also explores other themes, including the nature of time, future careers, and grief. It’s a tight group of characters that are responsible for entertaining us, but they do more than that. We loved it because it didn’t just make us laugh, we also cried, and were challenged to re-think some of our preconceived assumptions about people and friendship.
This is both tender and hilarious. Bauer’s humour is restrained here, with the banter between Sebastian and best friend Tolly, a sharp witty back and forth, rather than anything physical or exaggerated. The compressed timeline of one day keeps the narrative moving, and one liners flowing. The gentle truth about the title, That will not stand, is a strong testament to pro-active people who refuse to see others suffer, or injustices perpetrated.
While it predominantly deals with the developing friendship between Sebastian and Frida, the subsequent revealing secrets they both hide, Bauer also explores other themes, including the nature of time, future careers, and grief. It’s a tight group of characters that are responsible for entertaining us, but they do more than that. We loved it because it didn’t just make us laugh, we also cried, and were challenged to re-think some of our preconceived assumptions about people and friendship.
kater's review
4.0
More like 4 1/2 stars.
There have been plenty of books and films were two slightly misfit teenagers meet up and spend a lot of time talking. So in one sense, the idea behind this is not exactly new. But the characters are wonderful, Frida is not your average manic pixie dream girl, Seb is a dude and it will not stand if you ignore this book.
Well written, some very funny moments and also some very touching scenes.
There have been plenty of books and films were two slightly misfit teenagers meet up and spend a lot of time talking. So in one sense, the idea behind this is not exactly new. But the characters are wonderful, Frida is not your average manic pixie dream girl, Seb is a dude and it will not stand if you ignore this book.
Well written, some very funny moments and also some very touching scenes.
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