Scan barcode
A review by readsbyfatima
Loveless by Alice Oseman
2.0
Loveless by Alice Oseman: RATING: 2.5 stars
This book had the capacity to be a better book, if it wasn’t so poorly written. Bernadine Evaristo said it best; “language alone is not enough, nor is narrative structure. In my opinion, a great book must balance both.” This book has an okay narrative structure, but greatly disappointed in the language department.
The things I liked first:
- Emphasis on how friendship is just as powerful (if not more) than romance.
- The characters
- Rooney and Georgia’s friendship!!!
The plot isn’t terrible and the message of the story is a very important one too. I just felt like it was an issued-based book rather than a novel with an impactful story. I didn’t connect with the characters as much as I would’ve liked due to the writing detaching me from the story by putting it off. A great portion of the story was written the way someone (I’m assuming Oseman) would speak. There’s a lot of “telling” rather than “showing” which doesn’t really allow a reader to connect with how the characters think and feel. (E.g. “Pip had definitely drawn the short straw in terms of people in her vicinity who she could relate to and bond with on a deep level due to shared life experiences.”) Hence, it was difficult to be absorbed in the story when the entire book was written like a coming out social media post. Speaking of which, there was an excess of group chat messages that just didn’t need to be there. Oseman’s writing was also very repetitive. She could have described Georgia’s feelings towards having sex with more imagery rather than repeating words like “disgust” and “nauseous” over and over again.
I didn’t enjoy the character of Pip. I found her attention-seeking and unforgiving. She could have been more understanding to Georgia’s plight. I understand why she was angry at Georgia and Rooney kissing, however, I think being mad for that long even though she wasn’t Rooney’s girlfriend was excessive and just helped serve the plot. Getting Pip back took so much time and effort. I found this to be ridiculous and clearly reflective of what an awful friend Pip is; throwing away a seven year friendship for a potential romance. I also found Rooney and Pip’s relationship to be too big a part of the story. They were irritating with their petty disagreements and I just didn’t root for them enough (again, due to the poor writing). And if this is an Ace-Aro story, there is no need for a central romance to get the readers to want to read the book. It goes against the message of the story to make Pip & Rooney anything but a side-romance to the plot…but it ends up being a huge part of the climax when Rooney disappears after a near sexual encounter with Pip. For the most part, it was like our main character, Georgia is constantly witnessing their romantic moments without engaging much in these parts of the book (except tue Rooney kiss, of course). I just feel this romance could have been a smaller part of the story.
I also think the book was way too long. The author didn’t need to detail irrelevant mundane details like people’s outfits that were “a look” or every little thing a character does in between important scenes.
So this is the longest review I’ve done and it reads like a rant, but despite all its many faults, I don’t regret reading this book. It could’ve been a much better written story with richer character development but I still think it was a heart warming story, a good introduction to asexuality and was relatively entertaining.
This book had the capacity to be a better book, if it wasn’t so poorly written. Bernadine Evaristo said it best; “language alone is not enough, nor is narrative structure. In my opinion, a great book must balance both.” This book has an okay narrative structure, but greatly disappointed in the language department.
The things I liked first:
- Emphasis on how friendship is just as powerful (if not more) than romance.
- The characters
- Rooney and Georgia’s friendship!!!
The plot isn’t terrible and the message of the story is a very important one too. I just felt like it was an issued-based book rather than a novel with an impactful story. I didn’t connect with the characters as much as I would’ve liked due to the writing detaching me from the story by putting it off. A great portion of the story was written the way someone (I’m assuming Oseman) would speak. There’s a lot of “telling” rather than “showing” which doesn’t really allow a reader to connect with how the characters think and feel. (E.g. “Pip had definitely drawn the short straw in terms of people in her vicinity who she could relate to and bond with on a deep level due to shared life experiences.”) Hence, it was difficult to be absorbed in the story when the entire book was written like a coming out social media post. Speaking of which, there was an excess of group chat messages that just didn’t need to be there. Oseman’s writing was also very repetitive. She could have described Georgia’s feelings towards having sex with more imagery rather than repeating words like “disgust” and “nauseous” over and over again.
I didn’t enjoy the character of Pip. I found her attention-seeking and unforgiving. She could have been more understanding to Georgia’s plight. I understand why she was angry at Georgia and Rooney kissing, however, I think being mad for that long even though she wasn’t Rooney’s girlfriend was excessive and just helped serve the plot. Getting Pip back took so much time and effort. I found this to be ridiculous and clearly reflective of what an awful friend Pip is; throwing away a seven year friendship for a potential romance. I also found Rooney and Pip’s relationship to be too big a part of the story. They were irritating with their petty disagreements and I just didn’t root for them enough (again, due to the poor writing). And if this is an Ace-Aro story, there is no need for a central romance to get the readers to want to read the book. It goes against the message of the story to make Pip & Rooney anything but a side-romance to the plot…but it ends up being a huge part of the climax when Rooney disappears after a near sexual encounter with Pip. For the most part, it was like our main character, Georgia is constantly witnessing their romantic moments without engaging much in these parts of the book (except tue Rooney kiss, of course). I just feel this romance could have been a smaller part of the story.
I also think the book was way too long. The author didn’t need to detail irrelevant mundane details like people’s outfits that were “a look” or every little thing a character does in between important scenes.
So this is the longest review I’ve done and it reads like a rant, but despite all its many faults, I don’t regret reading this book. It could’ve been a much better written story with richer character development but I still think it was a heart warming story, a good introduction to asexuality and was relatively entertaining.