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A review by bee_hensh
Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Kathryn Ormsbee
5.0
Title: Tash Hearts Tolstoy
Author: Kathryn Ormsbee
Publication: 2017
Difficulty Level: 2/5
My Rating: 5/5
Tash is just your average girl. She makes a literary web-series with her best friend, Jack. Her Mom just got pregnant. Again. Her sister is going off to University. And now she's just gone viral. She's also asexual. Not that she's even sure what that means. She's still figuring it out. Add to that the complications of internet fame, an unraveling future, fights with her best friends, and a burgeoning online romance and you've got a recipe for trouble.
Ormsbee perfectly captures the life of a teenager in 2017. She knows exactly what it's like to have a life online, not to mention the fears and insecurities that come with putting a little bit of yourself out for the world to see. She has crafted a story that easily transitions between Tash's internet life and her real one: until the two worlds collide.
Tash is a complicated character. She's passionate about her work (and Leo Tolstoy) and earnest. But she's also flawed. Her relationship with her best friend Jack is perfectly executed. They fight, they support one another, and they have their own set of issues--just like any best friends. She's sometimes selfish, but we still root for her.
Best of all, Tash represents a somewhat under-appreciated group of people: those who equally adore classics and modern media. Tash self-proclaims herself a fan of Jane Austen and J.J. Abrams. She's part of a niche group of literary web-series which Ormsbee references in her acknowledgments. She's also heteromantic asexual--a protagonist I have never personally seen in media before.
Ormsbee's style is easy to follow. If you've grown up in the age of the Internet you can follow her talk of ship names and internet trolls. Her prose flows easily and at a steady pace. She captures the insecurities of a teenager and though Tash doesn't even know what's going on sometimes, Ormsbee's writing doesn't make the reader feel confused.
I found myself in the pages of this book. Never before had I found a character who so perfectly represented me. I too am a fan of literature (and their web-series) as well as high-action, sci-fi, and period drama movies. I've struggled with friends and relationships and school and putting my work on the internet. Cancer has been a part of my life as it has Tash's. Most importantly I'm asexual, and the portrayal Ormsbee has of what that's like--the confusion, the explanations, the doubts, the discovery, and the hate--made me bawl my eyes out at 1 o'clock in the morning. I have never felt so connected to a character.
This is my new favourite book. It means more to me than I ever could have imagined. I recommend it to everyone--even if you're not a fan of contemporary (I never have been), not just for its easy style or realism, but because asexuality is an underrepresented identity and it deserves more recognition. I had never even heard of it before last year. Books like these mean more people have a chance to recognize themselves in media, and maybe--just maybe--realize something about themselves in turn.
Author: Kathryn Ormsbee
Publication: 2017
Difficulty Level: 2/5
My Rating: 5/5
Tash is just your average girl. She makes a literary web-series with her best friend, Jack. Her Mom just got pregnant. Again. Her sister is going off to University. And now she's just gone viral. She's also asexual. Not that she's even sure what that means. She's still figuring it out. Add to that the complications of internet fame, an unraveling future, fights with her best friends, and a burgeoning online romance and you've got a recipe for trouble.
Ormsbee perfectly captures the life of a teenager in 2017. She knows exactly what it's like to have a life online, not to mention the fears and insecurities that come with putting a little bit of yourself out for the world to see. She has crafted a story that easily transitions between Tash's internet life and her real one: until the two worlds collide.
Tash is a complicated character. She's passionate about her work (and Leo Tolstoy) and earnest. But she's also flawed. Her relationship with her best friend Jack is perfectly executed. They fight, they support one another, and they have their own set of issues--just like any best friends. She's sometimes selfish, but we still root for her.
Best of all, Tash represents a somewhat under-appreciated group of people: those who equally adore classics and modern media. Tash self-proclaims herself a fan of Jane Austen and J.J. Abrams. She's part of a niche group of literary web-series which Ormsbee references in her acknowledgments. She's also heteromantic asexual--a protagonist I have never personally seen in media before.
Ormsbee's style is easy to follow. If you've grown up in the age of the Internet you can follow her talk of ship names and internet trolls. Her prose flows easily and at a steady pace. She captures the insecurities of a teenager and though Tash doesn't even know what's going on sometimes, Ormsbee's writing doesn't make the reader feel confused.
I found myself in the pages of this book. Never before had I found a character who so perfectly represented me. I too am a fan of literature (and their web-series) as well as high-action, sci-fi, and period drama movies. I've struggled with friends and relationships and school and putting my work on the internet. Cancer has been a part of my life as it has Tash's. Most importantly I'm asexual, and the portrayal Ormsbee has of what that's like--the confusion, the explanations, the doubts, the discovery, and the hate--made me bawl my eyes out at 1 o'clock in the morning. I have never felt so connected to a character.
This is my new favourite book. It means more to me than I ever could have imagined. I recommend it to everyone--even if you're not a fan of contemporary (I never have been), not just for its easy style or realism, but because asexuality is an underrepresented identity and it deserves more recognition. I had never even heard of it before last year. Books like these mean more people have a chance to recognize themselves in media, and maybe--just maybe--realize something about themselves in turn.