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A review by rjleamon11
The People We Keep by Allison Larkin
2.0
I wish we could give half stars! This one is a 2.5 for me. The reader was excellent, creating a strong sense of the main character's personality. I thought Larkin did a good job showing how the young woman (yup, forgot her name)'s upbringing shaped her personality,
BUT BUT BUT most of the men in the book AND the narrator's relationships with men:
a 16.5 year old and a 27 year old? No no no no no--I was hugely uncomfortable with that, given the whole "I would've sworn she was 18" trope AND the narrator's decision to lie about her age. AND
Matty?
Justin?
her dad?
the guy after Justin?
Bodie?
Bodie was the only one who was at all developed as a character and at all likable.
The women were, for the most part, interesting and carefully developed, but the men were wooden and vacant.
AND I didn't feel that April (AHA! I REMEMBERED!) grew or learned anything in the various events and developments in the book, even the major one at the end.
A lot of it just felt undeveloped and unconsidered. I'm interested that so many people loved it!
BUT BUT BUT most of the men in the book AND the narrator's relationships with men:
a 16.5 year old and a 27 year old? No no no no no--I was hugely uncomfortable with that, given the whole "I would've sworn she was 18" trope AND the narrator's decision to lie about her age. AND
Matty?
Justin?
her dad?
the guy after Justin?
Bodie?
Bodie was the only one who was at all developed as a character and at all likable.
The women were, for the most part, interesting and carefully developed, but the men were wooden and vacant.
AND I didn't feel that April (AHA! I REMEMBERED!) grew or learned anything in the various events and developments in the book, even the major one at the end.
A lot of it just felt undeveloped and unconsidered. I'm interested that so many people loved it!