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annietaber 's review for:

The Portrait of a Mirror by A. Natasha Joukovsky
5.0
dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A perfect Shakespearean romp full of lost inhibitions, confused relationships, forbidden and flip-flopped love, all set in a deliciously modern New York/Philadelphia/Paris full of characters you know and love/hate in your own life already. Perfect integration of modern technology (though I refuse to entertain consulting work as real work) and humor to make everything so perfectly believable— and hateable. I adored the literary and art references; it made the book feel so rich yet also made the reader feel smarter themselves for understanding all of the cheeky references— to borrow the author’s own words. A masterpiece.