(**actual rating is a 3.5)

i'm not good at writing reviews anymore, i think we've established this, but here goes nothing:

this was my first Emma Cline books (and one of my first adult books) and i just want to start off by saying that Emma Cline write in the same way that Nina Lacour does. both of them write beautifully and flowery without making the book boring. they both add in a lot of details and are amazing at portraying the emotions that characters are feeling.

with that being said, Emma Cline was a master at showing that people can be sad without constantly crying at their own pity parties. all these stories had an underlying theme of sadness in them, and i found myself genuinely getting into a melancholy mood every time i picked this book up. she does an excellent job of combining setting, character, and writing to show feelings that are coming from the character and transferring onto the reader. i even CRIED which is rare.

i also read a lot of the book out loud, which is obviously not required but i found it a calming and actually really effective way to read the book.

my favorite story was definitely mariam, but the majority of them were really cool. (also i imagined Micheal Cera for a lot of the guys. do what you want with that information) overall it was a pretty good book. i'd recommend it if you're looking for a melancholy contemporary book.

-rebe