Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

1 review

easypeasy17's review

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funny lighthearted medium-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

2.0

I really wanted to like this book! I had been excited to read it for the past few years and the beginning started out great. However, as the book goes on I just got frustrated. It really felt the the characters were all one-dimensional caricatures. And then Nina, the main character, meets her extended family. This gave the author a great opportunity to explore this experience, but she just made the characters the same.
Spoiler Everyone in her family is a massive reader. When she meets her brother, he also has anxiety. And when she meets her niece, she also likes random facts.
It was like the author thought that just because you are related, you have to have identical interests.

There were also moments where I thought there were some problematic elements. The main character has anxiety.
Spoiler At one point she has a panic attack and the love interest helps her get home. He also makes her tea and does some other stuff while she’s in the bathroom. Once she emerges from the bathroom, she tells the love interest that she needs to be alone in order to process her anxiety. He proceeds to then not leave her alone and persistently asks her if he can stay and tells her that he just wants to take care of her. SIR, the best thing you could do to take care of her is to listen to what she is telling you she needs right now. She’s not telling you to leave her forever, just that she needs to process this experience. I was so annoyed! Then at the end of the book, NINA is the one who apologizes for that event. The love interest is the one that should be apologizing. And he proceeds to describe her panic attack as a “freak out” and says, “I don’t want to be with someone who’s ready to throw me under the bus every time she loses her composure.”  This is just such a dismissive portrayal of anxiety!
Lastly, there were jokes throughout that were meant to be witty but they read to me as problematic which then took me out of the story. I was so disappointed by this story.
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