charbck's reviews
120 reviews

really great. i loved getting more selin and her crazy friends. loved the wrap up w ivan. BUT I WANTED MORE ZITA! selin is a great character bc she’s extremely relatable but also distinctly unique. i obviously relate to the intense feeling of loss when she left mesut. i appreciated batuman’s citation of adrienne rich’s comphet essay at the end bc i was getting sapphic vibes from selin. unfortunately i didnt have a pen when i was reading this for some reason but there were tons of lines i wouldve underlined. 

yay joe trohman!! poor joe trohman!! so awesome to get some insight about one of my favorite bands. he has an amazing writing voice, much more entertaining and funny than the author i read before this (who is a professional author while joe is not, lol). 

i think structurally it was a bit all over the place, id like to see it rearranged chronologically. because im from the suburbs he’s from and adore his band, i ate up every mention of chicago and fob and would have preferred more of that, but nbd, hopefully i will get that from pete or patricks memoir. that being said i would LOVE to read another trohman book. joe, get on it!!

but it was SO funny like fr had a lot of laugh out loud moments. it was great to hear his takes on the fall out boy projects, like mania and evening out w ur gf, esp cuz i agreed w them!!! its also great to know that the guys in emo bands are actually emo as hell

poorly written, cliche and surface level characters, twist was boring, forced romance, and overall vague. foley: every chapter should not end in 😏🤨😏🤨  

what was jess actually running from, theft? thats it? lazy excuse for her refusing to go to the cops. what happened to theo after he’s arrested? nada. the riots? happening why? a point? never explained. antoine never has a pov and is just the villain? lazy. nick has a history with ben and both of their feelings about that were never fully explored, which is a wasted opportunity. but now that i think of it, none of the characters feelings about anything were ever fully explored. except for mimi being obsessive, and no other character traits after that. whatever 

what is the most lazy and disappointing is the emphasis on “everything that happened here (the doomed, devilish apartment) is because of ben…” but like, what actually happened before the murder? an affair, sure. but i hate how every character, esp the concierge, hyped up the apartment complex to be this sort of trap… luring everyone in… the center of so many “terrible things” that r never explained. like at least make it haunted or smth like bly manor style. give me a reason to be scared of the apartment if ur gonna emphasize that over the ppl in it. 

also the concierge (who is never named btw?????) like what even. she  has loyalty to this family bc they r caring for her granddaughter, even tho she should hate them for what they did to her daughter !! everyone treats her like trash but shes been working there 20 yrs??? and mimi never discovers that the concierge is her blood, but the concierge is still going to the south of france to what… stalk mimi more? 

also, and this is a preference thing, but i could count the (not cliche) figurative language occurrences on one hand. if ur gonna set the story in such a spooky and beautiful place … at least make an effort in describing it

LAZY! WRITING!

FUUUUUCK FUCKINF FUCK!! SO GOOD!!! QUEER REQUIRED READING!!! so much better than dracula!!!! shout out to CMM for revealing the lesbian TRUTH!!! REVEAL THE LETTERS!!!!!! RELEASE THE EMAILS!!!!

dolly, how DARE you not answer all of my questions about love?? why cant you solve all my problems?? this book is hilarious and sweet but got a tad too motivational speaker-y for my taste in the last 100 pgs. will def read more of aldertons work!!

good story but didnt hit me, but im just too old! wish i read this when i was 12. at first i was like ok boy book🙄🙄 but turns out the author is a girl, not a woman, a teenage girl! which i guess is why the book didnt totally objectify cherry and instead gave her some depth, even though she was a side character. so my annoyances w the writing style and the plot cliches are forgiven because s e hinton was literally 15

im obsessed w finny :((( author put the gay subtext in there on purpose obviously

just finished — loss for words atm. so good and so compelling. the world building is really well done and compelling. i cant tell if this is more of a critique on animal eating, capitalism, or both. i havent read dystopia since the giver, but if modern dystopias are like this one i will seek them out!! cannibalism fiction is so taboo and captivating !

if you want to read a well told story about a person who doesnt belong, read moshfegh or sayaka murata. do NOT read this. what an incredible waste of my time. its so poorly written, and if this was in a writers room it would get ripped apart for being too tell-y and not show-y, literally the first thing they teach u in creative writing. it made reading the book so BORING. 

eleanor’s character was so extremely unbelievable. how does she know what a sitcom is but not a high five. how was she in foster care but she doesnt know spongebob squarepants. her mom’s dialogue was also sooooo cruella de vile style, over the top villain. it was honestly just uncreative. the hints to eleanor’s past were SO obvious, so waiting for the very end for it to be revealed was so tedious. and the very last page plot twist was also uncreative and dealt with LAZILY!!! eleanor is also SO RUDE TO EVERYONE AROUND HER. its not comical, its not sassy, its just unbearable.

eleanor’s whole development was so anti-feminist its crazy. first off—the “im different than all of my idiotic peers” scenario is so boring. then she thinks some man is hot so decides to change HER WHOLE APPEARANCE?! starting with a VAG WAX? when she was otherwise comfortable with not fitting into beauty standards for 20 years?? not to mention everyone starts treating her as a human being after she changes her look—what is that supposed to teach the reader?? also she does not have ONE woman friend. she thinks all of her woman coworkers are stupid or annoying. the one woman that is kind to her, laura, is generally nice but the ig foil of eleanor. AND THEN THE AUTHOR THROWS IN A JEALOUSY ASPECT BETWEEN THE TWO THAT GOES ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE AND SERVES NO PURPOSE !!! BUT TO DRIVE THESE TWO WOMEN APART !!! it doesnt even cause eleanor to realize her feelings for raymond. i feel sorry for this author and her sense of competition that she must feel with every other woman for her to write laura that way. 

this book was predictable, poorly written, and could be 50-100 pages shorter. all of the jokes were based on eleanor being unrealistically out of touch and guess what, weren’t funny. i thought huh i hate this so much why is there a penguin guide in the back is there something deeper im missing?? but then i read the discussion questions and no! they are stupid and there is no deeper insight.

if you want to read a good book about a depressed loner with mommy issues, read my year of rest and relaxation

my recipe for a 5 star book: flawed and distinct characters, unrequited love, no plot. i love selin so much. i understand her in a way i havent understood a character since marianne of normal people. i also feel like ive lost my ability to talk to people. i HATE ivan but its so real that you fall in love with terrible men and then you hate hanging out with them, but need them so bad. i admire how distinct each character is in very subtle ways, or dialogue alone, and how loveable but hateable they each are. cant wait to read the sequel