Taylor is wildly good at characterization, human interactions, and interrogating some facets of queer identify (imo). While this sometimes detracts, in the sense that there is no “easily” packaged notion conveyed to the reader—especially when white readers such as myself are conditioned to expect something like that in a (queer) narrative—it’s really opened up a lot of interesting space. It’s almost Rooney-esk in its curiosity at examining hyper-specific interactions between identities. Micro-aggressions and politics of pleasure. The power dynamics at play with vulnerability in a wide range of subjects.

It all works quite well. This was a five star read for me up until halfway in, actually. And I really did like the additional context of other voices coming in, but I also felt like I was missing the “main” storyline too much. I wanted to get back there, and that felt like a bit of a disservice to the other characters, but it was how I felt. I got used to a new person and a new voice. And then it was just gone and we’d do it again. I didn’t feel like it quite mastered the slipping in-and-out of voice style it presented. But it was very interesting.

There are some really wickedly smart observations on behaviour and kinks and whiteness and mediocrity in highly demanding practices, such as ballet. The way autonomy is described in this is simply mesmerizing. It’s neither sexualized, as is typical, nor is it permeated with a power fantasy, also typical. It’s very much it’s own creature that feels intrinsic to the subject at study. It’s honestly singular and incredible.

100% liked this more than Real Life, but again, the heights were tempered by the stylistic choice here, for me.