svmreads's Reviews (412)

Wasn’t fully on board until the ending! Sheesh!

I think I’ve gotten all I need to out of this book, and it’s a bit more academic than what I’m looking for right now.

Heartwarming, charming, and HILARIOUS. All of the characters were so relatable and I loved seeing the journeys Guido and Holly and Vincent and Misty took. I do wish we saw a little more of Holly and Misty together because the one scene at the end with them was great!
My one gripe with this book is that there was some racist language that took me out of the story, especially when describing Holly, who is presumably a white woman. Her hair was described as "oriental" several times and repeated that she "smelled like jasmine". At one point her mannerisms were described as being "like Genghis Khan" and her baby at the end was described as "a little Buddha". These descriptors were wildly unnecessary and prevented me from giving this book a higher rating.

The book hinges upon the twist to make it successful, forcing readers to reconsider everything they just read. However, what I read was not compelling. Stylistically, the writing was bland and the dialogue was atrocious. Again, I get this is a choice when thinking about the fact that we are in Jake’s mind, but HIS MIND IS NOT INTERESTING. If that was the point the author tried to make, mission accomplished, but overall the reading experience was painful to get through. Jake’s mind literally read like a Philosophy 101 or Psych 101 course. Every thought he had that he considered profound was as deep as a kiddie pool.

I also personally hate when a book completely relies on a twist of some sort to make it successful. In my mind, a book should have merits beyond a twist. That’s why books such as They Never Learn by Layne Fargo and The God of the Woods by Liz Moore didn’t work for me - they relied too heavily on building up to the twist at the expense of believable characters and the emotion within the story. 

What I have discovered about myself and the books I love most is that I enjoy stories that are grounded in reality (even if they have magical or supernatural elements), have well fleshed-out characters, and are thought-provoking. This had none of that and the only thoughts it provoked were about how much I hated this book.

This should have worked for me, but unfortunately I didn't click with the story. I had similar issues to The Rabbit Hutch as I had to Martyr!: debut novels published by Knopf that were dense, had multiple POVs, and tried to tackle way too much. I think The Rabbit Hutch would have worked better if it focused more on Blandine and her POV. 
Bummed because I was looking forward to this! :(

Five glorious stars!! This book made me laugh out loud and cry in public TWICE. A brilliant bildungsroman centering family and the power of the stories we tell ourselves and to each other. I want to read more from Veronica Raimo stat!

A great introduction into Claude Cahun! I found this informative, accessible, and (unfortunately) incredibly resonant in our current political moment. I'll continue to the work of Claude Cahun to provide inspiration in these trying times. Bonus: there's a bibliography in the back of the book for more works on and by Cahun!

I absolutely adored this book. Joan is such a singular, memorable protagonist, and Marcy Dermansky put it best when she said "Joan is fine; the problem is other people." Excited to read more from Weike Wang!