If you've ever wondered how it would be like to be a couples therapist maybe this book is what you're looking for.
Points for writing, I think Sally Rooney's popularity speaks for that. Her writing is sensible and “normal”. Her characters don't go into effusive prose when their emotions are heightened. They don't talk like the imaginary people in writers' heads, they talk like normal people, haha.
First 60 pages, and I just want to punch Connell in the balls, okay? Marianne needs a confrontational friend, but she needs a friend first of all.
Their back and forth and miscommunication is exhausting. It's either one of them thinks they're talking in complete sentences or the other is just not hearing half of the sentences.
I understand why some people would feel frustrated at the ending bc it seems to have very little payoff. But that's fine to me. Because that's how people's lives normally are, no neat bookends to every volume of their lives. And if anything, that ending is true to form about lives not following a neat story arc and instead we have moments which can be kinda messy.
Do I think they end up together? Idk, I think they will always have eachother in their lives because they're like the scabs of a scar. It's just there. But by that end, they're at different points of understanding themselves. Connell is a bit further on and if anything at least he seems to be sure of some things. We have to keep in mind, we only know of Marianne's thoughts and she tends to be more pessimistic but like Connell, she's only sure of a few things. Few, but important.
I loved The Princess Diaries and I grew up reading those books when I was a tween. So, revisiting Adult Mia feels very nostalgic. It's weird to relate to a character who has nothing in common with you, but that was the beauty of the original series.
Overall, Royal Wedding is as much as modern day fairy tale as can be. It's okay. It's something to indulge in and it's definitely a pick-me-up book that you can just relax and laugh with.
Refreshing take on a murder mystery, less of a mystery more of a novel about a murder. What I liked about this book is that despite giving away half the mystery at the beginning, the integral question of why is the only one left and you are taken through the story being seduced by the character. They are by no means likeable or relatable, they are after all a group of murderers. I don't think that was the point. But by offering fascinating, almost romantic depictions of this group of friends, we understand Richard's enchantment. And then, we are left with the aftermath. Few novels about murders gets to talk about the aftermath and processing a traumatic experience. Examples of these would be Room by Emma Donoghue and The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins (bc yes, Katniss was going through PTSD throughout the series). Instead of ending the book on the ‘resolution' of the murder, continuing the story throughout dissolution and disenchantment is one of reasons why this book will be in my “to keep/reread” pile.
I found myself thinking about this book weeks after reading it for it to actually sit with me.
I kind of figured out why I am less sympathetic about this character than anyone in her situation and I realize maybe that was the point. Yes, she is unlikeable. But I found a lot of things she says I kind of agree with but would probably not say out loud myself. Because people would think I'm an asshole.
Right off the bat, I would have already guessed the narrator has depression. It seems obvious. But the way the book is written, you find very little reason to sympathize with her because she has all this privilege. She's a beautiful, wealthy white woman. It would seem like there is very little for her to be depressed about. Sure, her parents died but she admits herself that she never really had a loving relationship with them. She quit her job, but she admits she has been long disillusioned with the industry she works in. It seems to me that even the narrator herself is unable to admit to herself that she is miserable and she's incredibly self aware of her own privilege and perhaps that's why she couldn't admit to herself her own problems. She does a lot of this deflection throughout the book. And so her year of rest and relaxation was another way for her to divert herself from her problems. Because she has no way of facing them if she doesn't acknowledge them.
Being unable to admit to yourself or anyone that you are going through a depression is hard enough without people reminding you of what you should be grateful for. And especially with the time period this was set on, it must have been so isolating to feel like you're the only miser in the room.
The ending was less about her character development or her year of rest and relaxation actually working for her. It was more like she woke up to a new world where it wouldn't be so out of place to feel morose or depressed a little. The bubble has popped for much of the people around her.
Sometimes, it takes a lot of effort for us to admit how miserable we actually feel.
