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A review by l888nightreader
My Policeman by Bethan Roberts
4.0
this book made me feel so many emotions, sometimes more than one at once. i’ve always thought that as long as you feel *something* while reading (pleasure, joy, or even annoyance & fatigue) that it can never be a bad book. books are meant to make you feel, whatever that may be.
i felt so much reading this novel. heartbreak, uncomfortableness, annoyance, anger, and numbness. truly… this book was a rollercoaster. it sets the stage in the fifties and makes its way to a split narrative story set in a different time period, the nineties. patrick, writing in the 50s, adores his policeman, tom burgess. marion, writing in the 90s, also adores her policeman, tom burgess. what a love triangle this is except it’s really only between two people. the third person not understanding this, though…
the homophobia in this book is subtle but present. and even more so is the internalized homophobia in this book. these two wrapped in one bring us to all the emotions i felt. however, this book was still wonderful and enjoyable. i felt so attached to this book and these characters that i felt as though i knew them and wanted to grab them sternly and scream “do you not get it?!”
well worth it and very excited (of course) to see the on-screen adaptation
i felt so much reading this novel. heartbreak, uncomfortableness, annoyance, anger, and numbness. truly… this book was a rollercoaster. it sets the stage in the fifties and makes its way to a split narrative story set in a different time period, the nineties. patrick, writing in the 50s, adores his policeman, tom burgess. marion, writing in the 90s, also adores her policeman, tom burgess. what a love triangle this is except it’s really only between two people. the third person not understanding this, though…
the homophobia in this book is subtle but present. and even more so is the internalized homophobia in this book. these two wrapped in one bring us to all the emotions i felt. however, this book was still wonderful and enjoyable. i felt so attached to this book and these characters that i felt as though i knew them and wanted to grab them sternly and scream “do you not get it?!”
well worth it and very excited (of course) to see the on-screen adaptation