I've been trying to get into the contemporary romance genre lately so I picked up this book, winner of the 2021 GoodReads romance category. As soon as I started it, I found it kind of cheesy, and then immediately thought to myself that maybe I was forcing something that wasn't really me. Maybe I won't ever really like to read contemporary romance.
Sally Rooney's shining glory in this book is that she is able to so clearly distinguish right from wrong, and in doing so, she redeems Love. There is one moment towards the end of the book when Marianne finally stands up for herself in which we can see this very clearly. Rooney said that CWF was a love story but NP is much more so. This is her better novel between the two. It is intricate, it is complex, it is uplifting where her first novel was only depressing. I am excited to read her latest work, Beautiful World, Where are You? It's supposed to be her best yet.
I picked this book up because I'm interested in reading a bit more romance, since all the romance I've actually read is from Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters. While those books are great and undoubtedly one of my favorite classics, I was looking for something more actualized. So I picked up this book thinking I'm going to read some of the best in romance. Sadly, my hopes were thwarted.
This is the second book by Taylor Jenkins Reid that I've read (the first one being Daisy Jones and the Six) and it's, quite literally, a stunner. I was afraid this book was too hyped up, and I went into it feeling a little disappointed because while I was reading it, I felt it was okay, but not great. All of that changes by the end. At first, the character of Evelyn Hugo feels like a caricature. By the end, she's so fleshed out and human that I feel like I know this character better than I know myself.
While I found the writing lyrical in some instances, especially the instances when Emily talks about her love of words and solitude, I could not shake the feeling that this book felt like an early draft of a novel, instead of a completed story.
The first half of the book is better than the second half, because the second half mainly focuses on the romantic relationship between the two leads, and while this is fine, I would've been more thrilled with a less razor-sharp focus on this one specific element. I would have liked a broader horizon in terms of plot, like in the first half of the book.
I know Sally Rooney is all the rage right now so I was really looking forward to reading this book. I'm watching the TV series Normal People based on Rooney's other book and am really liking it so far so I went into this book with the expectation that I would really like it too. And while I did like it, I'm not sure I can say I'm head-over-heels delighter over it, or even that I like it *that* much.
I discovered this book by virtue of researching Timothee Chalamet's filmography--an actor I've been intrigued by since watching his performances in Little Women, Lady Bird, The King and Dune. I haven't watched this movie yet, which is supposed to be one of his best, and decided to read the book first before watching it, just to get familiar with the story.
I went into this book expecting much more than what I got. I expected a look into the bohemian scene of the late 19th century London, more insight into actual theatre life, and a little bit of a comedy of manners, perhaps. This book is none of those things.
irce is not one of the great mythological characters of history, but Miller manages to make her one in this narrative, and it’s a tale that I won’t soon forget.
The Literary Bend 