Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Talking at Night

Es ist komisch wie wenig mir ein Buch gefallen kann obwohl da manchmal Zitate waren die ziemlich weise sind. Dinge die mir wo anders gefallen aber hier nicht so.
Will war edgy und es hatte genervt. Rosie war verwirrend und das hat umso mehr genervt. Deren Liebe war nicht wirklich überzeugend, schon gar nicht deren Gespräche. Es passierte so viel und wie eine Review schon meinte wurde es bis zum letzten Gramm gesqueezed weswegen sich das Buch so unglaublich in die Länge zog. Es war keine gute Lese Reise. Es war nervtötend. Ich wollte einfach nur dass es vorbei geht.

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ellieroberts's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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nzmerchant's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Genuinely don’t know how to rate this book because it made me feel so many things all at once, and i hate that but it’s also kinda done it’s job in that sense? Feel like I need a couple of weeks to process this book. Anyone who says it’s like “Normal People” is lying - it’s probably closer to “A Little Life” in terms how much trauma and shit that characters are put through. I will say (no pun intended) that I loved the theme about passions and following what you love, filling your life and time with that. But I cannot stand how much the characters had to endure to learn that. And I don’t think this level of “yearning” should be glorified or aspired to. These kids trauma bonded and formed an unhealthy attachment to each other - whether that got healthier at the end when they worked on themselves, idk but it just seems rather odd to me that everyone thinks this is romantic. Or maybe I’m just projecting at this point because it scares me.

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alyssastager's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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nineinchnails's review against another edition

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challenging sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

i genuinely wanted to like this so badly but it just falls flat. i think reading this with the normal people comparisons in mind ruined this for me because i love normal people and, aside from the lack of speech marks, they had very little in common. the writing felt stilted and shallow so i struggled feeling connected to our main characters (i found the other characters a lot more intriguing though) and it doesn't help that i found them very annoying. i tend to like "unlikeable" characters but will and rosie were boring above all else. the prose comes off quite tryhard tumblrina to me but i can see why some people might enjoy it this book just wasn't for me.

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stellahadz's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I can't help but feel a bit conflicted about this book. The story follows basically the same formula as books like Normal People, One Day, and Where Rainbows End -- bad boy meets studious girl, they fall for each other but can't admit it, and they weave in and out of each other's lives through the years. It's a formula that works, but I personally have a bit of a love-hate relationship with it, and Talking at Night is no exception. The characters in these stories are almost always traumatized in some way, and the point seems to be that their love for each other "fixes" them, but a lot of the time that love can manifest in toxic ways: poor communication, pain caused to other unsuspecting partners, and unhealthy expectations. Part of the reason I liked the character of Jen in Talking at Night is that she kind of pokes holes in that dynamic - she tells Will that he's not really in love with Rosie, but rather the idea of her that he's built up in his head. Of course, in Will's case, it's not entirely true, but I liked that the "slow burn soulmate"-type trope got called into question.

Overall, the book is a little slow to start, but I was glad I continued reading. The prose was beautiful, the characters were well fleshed-out, and their family dynamics were compelling, especially Will's relationship with his grandmother. The dialogue, as well as the characters' thoughts and emotions, felt realistic. However, some parts of the book verged on a little overdramatic, and it seemed like the author was trying to stuff as much tragedy and drama as possible into the story to advance the plot. For Will's and Rosie's sakes, I wish the book had focused more on how they worked towards healing individually and then grew together, as opposed to relying on their love for each other to magically fix everything, but that probably wouldn't sell as many copies!

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lucyduller's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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? Yes

3.75

This book felt like so many other books I’ve read, and that’s not a bad thing. All of the books it reminded me of are books I’ve liked, One Day, Normal People, Where Rainbows End, People We Meet on Vacation - but it was missing something that meant I didn’t like it as much.

I really liked the fleshing out of the characters, I think Claire Daverley did that really well, but I wish there was more social commentary because it ended up feeling like it was stuck in limbo between a romance and a literary fiction, and I think the thing that classifies a book outside of a romance is when a book becomes about so much more. For instance, Normal People explores ideas of class, gender, communication, love in the era of social media, mental health, abuse, and so much more. Whilst this book had elements of that (Rosie has OCD and trauma from death of a loved one, as well as an eating disorder inherited by her mum) it felt unexplored and limited. At first the book is structured in a before and after a big event, but that is lost in the second half of the book and feels a bit messy.

Also, the absence of quotation marks is something I love when it’s done well, and I don’t think it was done well enough here for it to always be clear when someone is talking or who is talking. When reading Sally Rooney, however, it doesn’t even register that there are no quotation marks because it flows so well.

I was surprised to see that this was published by Penguin, because it felt like more of a debut novel by a new author but I think it is Penguin’s alternative to Sally Rooney, as she publishes with a competing independent publishing house.

I did like the ending, I was worried Daverley was going to be cruel to us but she wasn’t and I think it’s a lovely ending to a nice book.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book, but it doesn’t get the 5 stars I was hoping it might. Perhaps my expectations were too high at the start and if I’d gone in knowing nothing I would have enjoyed it more so maybe a fault with the reader and not the author!

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