Fran

Very cute and very gay so I'm giving it a positive rating even though I wasn't that big of a fan of the whole thing, I couldn't possibly tell you the difference between Leo, Cliff and Samuel or the rest of the characters except Maritza being uniquely insufferable and JaKory being uniquely into poetry and fedoras.

One of the main characters of this book has her story conclude by getting in a relationship with a man fifteen years older than her that she met as a minor and having a child with him, yet it is presented as a romantic victory, and even though while reading I was hoping this would not be the case I couldn't shake the feeling that it would be, so I wasn't surprised when it happened. There's a tinge of idolization for bad things and bad people that permeates this novel, contrasted by a hint of disdain for the opposite. The few characters that aren't complete pieces of shit are characterized as bumbling idiots or the equivalent of a golden retriever in human form, like someone couldn't possibly be interesting or have a functioning brain if they weren't also a horrible person.

I'll admit this book has it's moments and at times I did find myself crying, some specific scenes are excellent, but mostly in a vacuum, and not as a part of a whole. I could tell that Coco Mellors is a talented writer that at the very least understands human emotion deeply, and I appreciate that in any story, but this was way too problematic for me to rate it positively, I'm really disappointed.

Normally I don't write reviews but I feel I owe it to this book to at least say something because it inspired me to do so. Piranesi is beautiful, evocative and terrifying. It's so riveting and so short I didn't want it to end but I also felt a wave of relief wash over me when it did, it is quite literally the type of story you dream of, a slap of optimism in the face of hopelessness, a tragedy about how wonderful life is.

The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.

Objectively it took me 4 days to read this but subjectively it felt like 20 minutes, did not expect it to be so funny and fun, I especially appreciate the way it ends, I'm really excited to see where the series goes after this!

“You don't blame humans for what you were forced to do? For what happened to you?”
This is why I'm glad I'm not human. They come up with stuff like this. I said, “No. That's a human thing to do. Constructs aren't that stupid.”