A review by tobeeornottobee
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

there are books that you pick up to read as a pastime. part of a hobby. books that do what they are meant to do but do not reach further. they aren’t created to fill a space inside of you, and you don’t ask for it. then there are books that know the shape of your heart better than you do. cmq hasn’t written a book that is forgettable, casual, easy to swallow, digest, and forget. the pairing is indulgent, fully and completely. in the acknowledgments cmq says that their main goal with this book was to love writing it and to write a book that loves being a book. it is fully and completely a decadent self-indulgent novel, and i don’t find anything wrong with that. did every single long-winded description of a wine i’ll never have the opportunity to try or dish i have no interest in eating fulfill a need in me? no. but the love in every carefully crafted paragraph is staggering. you can feel the care and obsession and thirst for more in every word. i have a deep bias in relation to any book by cmq and specifically theo and kit and what the relationship is about and what it’s supposed to mean, but i was prepared to not be fully satisfied. i can confidently say i’m full, and maybe even have a little left over for tomorrow. a rule of writing is ‘kill your darlings’. sometimes that’s necessary, but too often i think it kills parts of you and parts of a very alive project. there is nothing better than holding the spine of something that knows what it is, and isn’t trying to be anything else. something overjoyed and bursting with the pain and color and excitement of being alive. something completely unapologetic. from top to bottom start to finish, are there bumps? sentences i didn’t crave? scenes i wasn’t left thinking about? yes. but there is nothing more inspiring than reading a book that loves to be a book, by someone who loved writing it. it is unbelievably difficult to walk away from it and not itch to go do something you love, to take the time to be happy and hungry and not sorry.