storytimed's review
4.0
I could write something very eloquent about this book, but mostly I just want to devolve into shouts of BI LOVE TRIANGLE!!. About a Girl is a beautiful, surreal dream of a book, so pretty in its depiction of a rural Washington town and long bike rides near the ocean and kissing a girl who is maybe supernatural that it took me until at least four hours after I'd finished it to realize that I wasn't really satisfied with the amount of mysteries left hanging (perhaps, though, that's because I haven't read the first two books in the series). Still, everything about Tally's life is highly #aesthetic, the writing is intricate and lovely, and I really like the commitment to having a diverse cast. Tally's smart and odd without being self-congratulatory about it, Maddy is wild and rather believable both as the supernatural and as the girl, and Shane is pretty cool as the back-home swoony best friend (I also really dug that he was a trans dude).
ewil6681's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
liralen's review
4.0
I am considered precocious, for good reason. Some people might say insufferable, but I do not truck with fools. (6)
McCarry's books seem to be hit-or-miss for readers on GR, but I remain solidly in the 'hit' category. For all that this is the least standalone of the three Metamorphoses books, I loved it. Combining mythology and astronomy and Shakespeare? Come on now. We get casual, matter-of-fact diversity (in terms of gender and sexuality and race); a heroine who is sure of herself and sure of her intelligence and confident in her 'unconventional' family; a dreamy, suspension-of-disbelief plot and general feel to the book. Tally is kind of irritating in the beginning, but in a she-is-supposed-to-be-that-way manner, and she's pushed to grow up quite a bit over the course of the book; she stops thinking and starts feeling.
My biggest complaint has nothing to do with the writing and everything to do with the cover, which I liked just fine until I read the book. What's up with the whitewashing? According to the text, Tally's hair 'falls down my back in a waterfall of coal' (10); her skin 'is quite smooth and a pleasing shade of brown, but not even a white person ever got cast as the lead of a romantic comedy because they had nice skin' (11). There are numerous other mentions of 'white people' and Tally not being white (e.g., 'Additionally, white people are not subject to the regular and exhausting lines of enquiry my skin and vaguely ethnic features occasion ("What are you? No, I mean where are you from? No, I mean where are you really from? No, I mean where are your parents from?")', p. 11). Meanwhile, Maddy is described, in part, as such: '...her knuckles were streaked with dirt; and her bare forearms were alive with black tattoos...and crisscrossed with pale scars that stood out sharply against her dark skin. A tangle of black-dyed hair rioted down her back in a serpentine mass.' (87)
The girl on the left of the cover looks like neither of these descriptions. The girl on the right could be maaaaaybe stretched out to one of them, except I really don't think either Tally or Maddy is the type for hoop earrings and nail polish. (Perhaps added to make it clear that both cover models are female?)
Makes me very cranky about publishing, but doesn't change my feelings about the writing, which I loved.
McCarry's books seem to be hit-or-miss for readers on GR, but I remain solidly in the 'hit' category. For all that this is the least standalone of the three Metamorphoses books, I loved it. Combining mythology and astronomy and Shakespeare? Come on now. We get casual, matter-of-fact diversity (in terms of gender and sexuality and race); a heroine who is sure of herself and sure of her intelligence and confident in her 'unconventional' family; a dreamy, suspension-of-disbelief plot and general feel to the book. Tally is kind of irritating in the beginning, but in a she-is-supposed-to-be-that-way manner, and she's pushed to grow up quite a bit over the course of the book; she stops thinking and starts feeling.
My biggest complaint has nothing to do with the writing and everything to do with the cover, which I liked just fine until I read the book. What's up with the whitewashing? According to the text, Tally's hair 'falls down my back in a waterfall of coal' (10); her skin 'is quite smooth and a pleasing shade of brown, but not even a white person ever got cast as the lead of a romantic comedy because they had nice skin' (11). There are numerous other mentions of 'white people' and Tally not being white (e.g., 'Additionally, white people are not subject to the regular and exhausting lines of enquiry my skin and vaguely ethnic features occasion ("What are you? No, I mean where are you from? No, I mean where are you really from? No, I mean where are your parents from?")', p. 11). Meanwhile, Maddy is described, in part, as such: '...her knuckles were streaked with dirt; and her bare forearms were alive with black tattoos...and crisscrossed with pale scars that stood out sharply against her dark skin. A tangle of black-dyed hair rioted down her back in a serpentine mass.' (87)
The girl on the left of the cover looks like neither of these descriptions. The girl on the right could be maaaaaybe stretched out to one of them, except I really don't think either Tally or Maddy is the type for hoop earrings and nail polish. (Perhaps added to make it clear that both cover models are female?)
Makes me very cranky about publishing, but doesn't change my feelings about the writing, which I loved.
katereads2much's review
3.0
First I want to say that the language/writing style of this book is intense and I found a lot of the descriptions beautiful e.g. “There were a thousand questions I could have asked her, but I didn’t know where to start, and so I left them all buzzing in my mouth like bees battering a windowpane.”
I was not prepared for the sheer weirdness of this story especially given how normal the first half of the book feels. I mean this girl's family life is non-traditional (which I loved) but the first half of this book seems like a fairly real story - a girl is struggling with first love and having been abandoned by her mother with no real idea who her father is.
Her journey to find her family at best strange and at worst disturbing and completely magical.
I never grew particularly fond of any of the characters in this book except perhaps Raoul and Henri, but I had to know what all the weirdness was about once it got started.
Thanks to Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review
I was not prepared for the sheer weirdness of this story especially given how normal the first half of the book feels. I mean this girl's family life is non-traditional (which I loved) but the first half of this book seems like a fairly real story - a girl is struggling with first love and having been abandoned by her mother with no real idea who her father is.
Her journey to find her family at best strange and at worst disturbing and completely magical.
I never grew particularly fond of any of the characters in this book except perhaps Raoul and Henri, but I had to know what all the weirdness was about once it got started.
Thanks to Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review
superdilettante's review
4.0
This author is new to me, and also not; I found one of her old zines in my things and thought to try to find out what she was doing in the here and now. And surprise, she’s a really evocative, poetic YA writer, with stories full of longing that limn the edges of the factual and metaphorical universes. I love it. I can’t wait to read more. My only regret is that, had I ever applied myself to actually reading mythology, I would have loved this story even more. But I’m lazy.
hehkhatea's review
DNF
I can't count how many queer lit books feature self discovery as the main theme and plot. Thankfully this one was more about the protagonist, Tally, is trying to find her estranged father and learn about her also estranged mother.
The love interest(s) always came off as really angry???? Angsty transboy and angry lesbian. Why?
Got really confused about the races of characters. The author was trying to put representation and made valiant attempts but I still couldn't tell, probably doesn't help that the cover has two girls that look white.
REALLY WANT MORE CHAPTER BREAKS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE
The lack of chapter breaks and the way the Tally told the story reminded me of my high school textbooks 10/10 would not recommend writing YA like a textbook.
Will probably try to read this book again, probably would help if I read the other three even though I was told it wasn't directly connected.
I can't count how many queer lit books feature self discovery as the main theme and plot. Thankfully this one was more about the protagonist, Tally, is trying to find her estranged father and learn about her also estranged mother.
The love interest(s) always came off as really angry???? Angsty transboy and angry lesbian. Why?
Got really confused about the races of characters. The author was trying to put representation and made valiant attempts but I still couldn't tell, probably doesn't help that the cover has two girls that look white.
REALLY WANT MORE CHAPTER BREAKS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE
The lack of chapter breaks and the way the Tally told the story reminded me of my high school textbooks 10/10 would not recommend writing YA like a textbook.
Will probably try to read this book again, probably would help if I read the other three even though I was told it wasn't directly connected.
readinggrrl's review
5.0
The third and final book in this trilogy. I didn't realize this was a trilogy when I requested it from the publisher through netgalley, so when I found out I wanted to hurry up and get to the first books in the series before reviewing this one. I listened to the other books on Audio and the narrator Renata Freedman's voice was hypnotic and I found myself hearing her voice as I read this one on my e-reader.
This book focuses on Tally, Aurora's daughter who she dropped on her best friends doorstep as an infant. Once again we never learn Aurora's best friends name instead Tally calls her Aunt Beast, and no one else ever refers to her by her name. As Tally gets older, as with many children whose parents have abandoned them she has questions about her parents that no one is willing to answer, she finds someone who she thinks may be her father and leaves on a quest from New York City to Seattle Washington. The story from there takes on more of the supernatural light that the first two alluded to.
This book was so beautifully written and this whole series is such a nod to Ovid and his famous poem Metamorphosis,the mythology of which, is scattered throughout this final book really tying it all together. Tally may have been a very mature teen but you see her transformation from naive young girl to a more mature young woman by the end of the book. Her experiences not only transform her but also transform some of the other characters as well. This book is poetic, tragic, mystical and beautiful. I couldn't put it down.
This book focuses on Tally, Aurora's daughter who she dropped on her best friends doorstep as an infant. Once again we never learn Aurora's best friends name instead Tally calls her Aunt Beast, and no one else ever refers to her by her name. As Tally gets older, as with many children whose parents have abandoned them she has questions about her parents that no one is willing to answer, she finds someone who she thinks may be her father and leaves on a quest from New York City to Seattle Washington. The story from there takes on more of the supernatural light that the first two alluded to.
This book was so beautifully written and this whole series is such a nod to Ovid and his famous poem Metamorphosis,the mythology of which, is scattered throughout this final book really tying it all together. Tally may have been a very mature teen but you see her transformation from naive young girl to a more mature young woman by the end of the book. Her experiences not only transform her but also transform some of the other characters as well. This book is poetic, tragic, mystical and beautiful. I couldn't put it down.
heatherbookely's review
3.0
2.8 stars.
I'm okay with stories with supernatural elements. I like magic. I like mythology. I like the elements. But I need to know that these things are going to be in a story beforehand so I can get into the proper headspace. The description of this book did not make me aware of anything supernatural, nor did the first half or so of the book. I expected a coming-of-age story, a story about adventure and self-discovery, a girl who leaves what she knows so she can find out about her family. And this book is that, but with a whole lot of other stuff I was just not expecting.
Some of the writing is wonderful, and sometimes it's too much and feels like it's trying too hard. The narrator is a precocious teenager who has always been told she's a genius, and who has always followed science and logic more than anything else. She abandons her logic too quickly, and does not deny things for as long as I would have thought someone like her should have.
This book was filled with people of color, which was wonderful, and there were parts of the book I really enjoyed. The end was just too much for me.
I'm okay with stories with supernatural elements. I like magic. I like mythology. I like the elements. But I need to know that these things are going to be in a story beforehand so I can get into the proper headspace. The description of this book did not make me aware of anything supernatural, nor did the first half or so of the book. I expected a coming-of-age story, a story about adventure and self-discovery, a girl who leaves what she knows so she can find out about her family. And this book is that, but with a whole lot of other stuff I was just not expecting.
Some of the writing is wonderful, and sometimes it's too much and feels like it's trying too hard. The narrator is a precocious teenager who has always been told she's a genius, and who has always followed science and logic more than anything else. She abandons her logic too quickly, and does not deny things for as long as I would have thought someone like her should have.
This book was filled with people of color, which was wonderful, and there were parts of the book I really enjoyed. The end was just too much for me.
rilester's review
2.0
I don’t get this book. At all. Maybe I should have read the others in the series first.