I loved your review!! Enjoyed it in its entirety. I found it interesting how in several of these reviews I've seen that every reviewer thought Kelly was out of pocket in some parts of the story but I was never bothered by Kelly's character not one time! I don't think he ever said or did anything offensive at all and now I'm starting to wonder if I should have been offended by him! 😂 Really enjoyed this book
Thanks!! From what I know of the women's award, I feel like it could have fit really well with that! But I am still learning about all the book prizes out there haha
I love seeing you guys review this book and about how it has no business being on the Booker longlist. Even the other books I see that you don't like as much at least feel like they belong on the list. Also, unrelatedly, I love your opener and opening music.
Thank you!! That's one of the only animations I've ever made haha and I was way too proud of it once I was done 😂 But yeah, it's silly to see it on the list. But on the plus side it meant I only had to read 12 books instead of 13 for the longlist haha
Great Review Sarah! Loved your thoughts. I appreciate that you call out needing to approach this without expectation. I think that's so important when it comes to critiquing and appreciating. love your content! keep it coming!
Thank you! Yeah, I think it's hard for me to do that typically (although I'm trying to get better at it haha), so I'm glad I read this before the list came out 🙈
really enjoyed this review. I am having trouble understanding the five-star reviews, presumably because it is not what I had expected initially before going into this book. I definitely have a new view on this book after watching this review-- it has put it into a very different perspective. Maybe my opinion will change once I finish!
Very great review! Completely different take than booker reviews I’ve seen. I think you brought up a good point about booker readers not being the intended audience. It gives me a new outlook on this book.
Thanks! Yeah, it was a nice fast paced read with a few good elements, but I think I would have had VERY different feelings if I read this one after it was on the list haha
Hi Sarah - Thank you for this review! I did not like this much, but the points regarding Alix make much more sense now. Although, I think Emira could have been a much better written character somewhere and moreover Kelley's character was petty confusing to me (the fetish part?); I still think the audience of this book was supposed to be the North American population, the book does not tend to relate to people outside of this demographic.
Oddly enough I think if we were looking for a comparison from last year, The Testaments would likely be it. Both extremely accessible in writing style, both written well enough. I agree that when compared to the other books it is the obvious outlier. I imagine maybe they wanted to pick something more commercial to draw buzz from an audience that isn’t typical for them?
Yeah, I was thinking about that as well. Maybe the list would seem more approachable from an outsider if they had read one of the books? I'm glad it didn't make it to the shortlist though!
I was NOT expecting you to do this review. But I am oh-so-glad you have!
I loved your review!! Enjoyed it in its entirety. I found it interesting how in several of these reviews I've seen that every reviewer thought Kelly was out of pocket in some parts of the story but I was never bothered by Kelly's character not one time! I don't think he ever said or did anything offensive at all and now I'm starting to wonder if I should have been offended by him! 😂 Really enjoyed this book
oooh, glad you did a review of this one! I really liked hearing your explanation of why it didn't fit with the rest of the Booker List.
Thanks!! From what I know of the women's award, I feel like it could have fit really well with that! But I am still learning about all the book prizes out there haha
I love seeing you guys review this book and about how it has no business being on the Booker longlist. Even the other books I see that you don't like as much at least feel like they belong on the list. Also, unrelatedly, I love your opener and opening music.
Thank you!! That's one of the only animations I've ever made haha and I was way too proud of it once I was done 😂
But yeah, it's silly to see it on the list. But on the plus side it meant I only had to read 12 books instead of 13 for the longlist haha
Great Review Sarah! Loved your thoughts. I appreciate that you call out needing to approach this without expectation. I think that's so important when it comes to critiquing and appreciating. love your content! keep it coming!
Thank you! Yeah, I think it's hard for me to do that typically (although I'm trying to get better at it haha), so I'm glad I read this before the list came out 🙈
really enjoyed this review. I am having trouble understanding the five-star reviews, presumably because it is not what I had expected initially before going into this book. I definitely have a new view on this book after watching this review-- it has put it into a very different perspective. Maybe my opinion will change once I finish!
Very great review! Completely different take than booker reviews I’ve seen. I think you brought up a good point about booker readers not being the intended audience. It gives me a new outlook on this book.
Thanks! Yeah, it was a nice fast paced read with a few good elements, but I think I would have had VERY different feelings if I read this one after it was on the list haha
about to start Such a Fun Age! This was really helpful to hear - I'm not familiar with the Longlist but I'm super excited to read this one.
I'm sure you'll enjoy it! I thought it was a good and fast paced read 😊
Yay! You have similar thoughts to me about how the Booker nomination has been a little unfair to the book.
Exactly! I think it was both unfair to the longlist and unfair to the book haha
Hey there, you really inspire me. Keep up the good work and love from India.
Thank you so much!! This means a lot 😊
Hi Sarah - Thank you for this review! I did not like this much, but the points regarding Alix make much more sense now. Although, I think Emira could have been a much better written character somewhere and moreover Kelley's character was petty confusing to me (the fetish part?); I still think the audience of this book was supposed to be the North American population, the book does not tend to relate to people outside of this demographic.
That's a great point! I completely agree, I think this was super specific to North America and for that audience.
Oddly enough I think if we were looking for a comparison from last year, The Testaments would likely be it. Both extremely accessible in writing style, both written well enough.
I agree that when compared to the other books it is the obvious outlier. I imagine maybe they wanted to pick something more commercial to draw buzz from an audience that isn’t typical for them?
Yeah, I was thinking about that as well. Maybe the list would seem more approachable from an outsider if they had read one of the books? I'm glad it didn't make it to the shortlist though!
@@FreshlyReadBooks makes you wonder what next years list might look like...