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A review by ericas_bookshelf
The Ordeal of Being Known by Malia Rose
5.0
“He feared that he could understand Icarus more and more every day. I, too, am flying too close to the sun. I, too, know I will burn soon, he thought. It only took one smile from her to get him to consider willingly getting burned.”
Layla is a well known, and successful artist. This is how she meets Jess. Jess is a well known basketball player, and wants to commission a piece from her for his parents. During their meeting, their mutual friend Mateo gets injured. Jess and Layla both insist on staying with Mateo at his apartment during his recovery. Forced proximity in an apartment is how this story starts, however there is so much more depth to it than that. I don’t want to spoil anything though. Even the spice scenes felt like I was intruding on an intimate moment.
“Layla. Layla was the true north of his heart's compass.”
This book is under 200 pages and yet it made me cry three times. How Malia manages to pack that much raw emotion and authentic love into so few pages is REMARKABLE. It kept reminding me of Hannah Bonam-Young’s style of story-telling. So if you enjoy her books, you’ll probably enjoy this one. Phenomenal debut novel, wow. Also, Malia is a Palestinian author, and adds in some heartfelt details about Palestine and Arab culture. Beautiful, beautiful, book.
“You're my favorite walking pile of panic attacks.”
Random notes I took while reading:
- Breaks fourth wall (reminded me of Fleabag haha)
- Palestinian main characters
- Time jumps a bit
- Bisexual FMC
- Queer friend group
- Anxiety rep
- Jess communicates via sign language, he is mute (reason is tragic, don’t want to spoil it, but it’s handled really well)
- The entire friend group are “famous” in some way. Paparazzi show up from time to time, they frequently have posts go viral, etc.
- She’s grumpy & he’s sunshine
- Instalove but done really well imo
- Written in third person POV
- Yes it’s spicy
P. S. Check CW’s
Layla is a well known, and successful artist. This is how she meets Jess. Jess is a well known basketball player, and wants to commission a piece from her for his parents. During their meeting, their mutual friend Mateo gets injured. Jess and Layla both insist on staying with Mateo at his apartment during his recovery. Forced proximity in an apartment is how this story starts, however there is so much more depth to it than that. I don’t want to spoil anything though. Even the spice scenes felt like I was intruding on an intimate moment.
“Layla. Layla was the true north of his heart's compass.”
This book is under 200 pages and yet it made me cry three times. How Malia manages to pack that much raw emotion and authentic love into so few pages is REMARKABLE. It kept reminding me of Hannah Bonam-Young’s style of story-telling. So if you enjoy her books, you’ll probably enjoy this one. Phenomenal debut novel, wow. Also, Malia is a Palestinian author, and adds in some heartfelt details about Palestine and Arab culture. Beautiful, beautiful, book.
“You're my favorite walking pile of panic attacks.”
Random notes I took while reading:
- Breaks fourth wall (reminded me of Fleabag haha)
- Palestinian main characters
- Time jumps a bit
- Bisexual FMC
- Queer friend group
- Anxiety rep
- Jess communicates via sign language, he is mute (reason is tragic, don’t want to spoil it, but it’s handled really well)
- The entire friend group are “famous” in some way. Paparazzi show up from time to time, they frequently have posts go viral, etc.
- She’s grumpy & he’s sunshine
- Instalove but done really well imo
- Written in third person POV
- Yes it’s spicy
P. S. Check CW’s