Tea
I really thought that I would love this book when I first picked it up a couple months ago. I was only able to get about 50 pages in before I was unable to pick it back up and finish it over the past several weeks; however, the small snippet that I got really drew me into the story. I really enjoyed Joy's and Benny's relationship, wished that the podcast was real, and fell in love with Xander in the process. As the book proceeds and develops, the traits that characters held that I once really liked quickly became annoying (e.g. Benny's adoration of Joy and how distraught he is throughout this entire book was a major one for me). I also feel like I'm left wanting and wishing more depth within the book, its clear that the entire focus is on Joy and Benny because at the end, I realized that I didn't know much about any of the side characters despite feeling like getting even some more of that information would help to add layers to the story or flesh everyone out a bit more. While there is so much that can be inferred about the characters at the end of the day, every character feels a bit hollow and surface level. They're basically incredible puppets, they have a personality and feel real while reading the book but the moment that they're taken out of the context, the moment the story ends, they all feel a bit more on the empty side of the spectrum to me.
The following is going to be spoilers to the book, but will hopefully better demonstrate my point earlier about never really learning much about the characters through actually speaking about the characters and some of the things that I wish that I learned more about them. I do understand that ultimately, this is a book centered around Benny and Joy, so side character depth will need to be lessened to heighten the focus. However, the execution in the end feels as if the focus became too narrowed in on the pair and has completely neglected the rest. Granted though, it feels like we spend a lot of time in Benny's head and he doesn't care about anyone in the cast besides his family (sister, Joy, and his parents) so he doesn't know much about the side characters anyways.
For example, why Xander acts the way he does now it could be simply the author trying to tie a bit more of reality into the fictional world and show us that he never actually cared or loved Joy but rather that she was effectively the perfect medical case for him to dote over and ensure that she's totally reliant on him. But why does he want people to be totally and absolutely reliant on him? We know that this is something that's been a thing since he was a teenager and I'm left wishing that there was more information about Xander rather than leaving him as a greedy, manipulative and abusive (in all regards) who happened to strike gold and was trying to capitalize on everything. I want to learn more about Luna (why did she become a divorce lawyer for example), Charlotte (why is gardening her hobby and potential escapism method), Mallory (how she actually feels towards Xander beyond "its a bit complicated"), Quinn (how much did she actually know in the end), Emile (how did him and Charlotte get into their "helping friends when needed" business), and all the other side characters beyond the surface level depictions that we get from them.
I really thought that I would love this book when I first picked it up a couple months ago. I was only able to get about 50 pages in before I was unable to pick it back up and finish it over the past several weeks; however, the small snippet that I got really drew me into the story. I really enjoyed Joy's and Benny's relationship, wished that the podcast was real, and fell in love with Xander in the process. As the book proceeds and develops, the traits that characters held that I once really liked quickly became annoying (e.g. Benny's adoration of Joy and how distraught he is throughout this entire book was a major one for me). I also feel like I'm left wanting and wishing more depth within the book, its clear that the entire focus is on Joy and Benny because at the end, I realized that I didn't know much about any of the side characters despite feeling like getting even some more of that information would help to add layers to the story or flesh everyone out a bit more. While there is so much that can be inferred about the characters at the end of the day, every character feels a bit hollow and surface level. They're basically incredible puppets, they have a personality and feel real while reading the book but the moment that they're taken out of the context, the moment the story ends, they all feel a bit more on the empty side of the spectrum to me.
The following is going to be spoilers to the book, but will hopefully better demonstrate my point earlier about never really learning much about the characters through actually speaking about the characters and some of the things that I wish that I learned more about them. I do understand that ultimately, this is a book centered around Benny and Joy, so side character depth will need to be lessened to heighten the focus. However, the execution in the end feels as if the focus became too narrowed in on the pair and has completely neglected the rest. Granted though, it feels like we spend a lot of time in Benny's head and he doesn't care about anyone in the cast besides his family (sister, Joy, and his parents) so he doesn't know much about the side characters anyways.
For example, why Xander acts the way he does now it could be simply the author trying to tie a bit more of reality into the fictional world and show us that he never actually cared or loved Joy but rather that she was effectively the perfect medical case for him to dote over and ensure that she's totally reliant on him. But why does he want people to be totally and absolutely reliant on him? We know that this is something that's been a thing since he was a teenager and I'm left wishing that there was more information about Xander rather than leaving him as a greedy, manipulative and abusive (in all regards) who happened to strike gold and was trying to capitalize on everything. I want to learn more about Luna (why did she become a divorce lawyer for example), Charlotte (why is gardening her hobby and potential escapism method), Mallory (how she actually feels towards Xander beyond "its a bit complicated"), Quinn (how much did she actually know in the end), Emile (how did him and Charlotte get into their "helping friends when needed" business), and all the other side characters beyond the surface level depictions that we get from them.