Would have been 4 stars if it hadn't taken 150-200 pages to get interesting. I almost stopped reading because it was so slow to reveal anything beyond the initial setup.
I have mixed feelings about this novel. The writing style is interesting, and Rooney does capture some of the complexities and self-absorbed behaviors of early twenty-somethings, but it also felt flat and stuttering, like reading a list.
The main characters receive almost no physical description beyond their whiteness and their beauty (I don't even know their hair colors—Bobbi has dark fringe, I think Frances is a brunette?, Nick has light hair, and Melissa is maybe a blonde?), so it was difficult to picture them as people and connect to them.
The absence of quotation marks for dialogue usually feels pleasantly dreamlike to me, but in this case it removed me further from the story. Despite the characters' realistic, and often messy and contradictory, behaviors and emotions, the whole book felt unreal in an unenjoyable way. I was a remote observer viewing Frances' choices and experiences through a foggy glass, unable to see the people clearly or to really feel the emotion of the events. I mostly felt bored or annoyed in the beginning and then sad in the second half. I didn't vibe with the humor or connect with the rather flat characters, and I found it tiring to read about such emotionally constipated people and their nearly endless miscommunications.
However, despite my dissatisfying experience with the book, I do think there's something there; I'm just not the right audience for it. There are likely people who would relate to Frances and the uncertainty of being a soon-to-be college graduate with no plans, no concrete desires or interests, and with a strong urge for human connection and to be loved but too little experience with expressing emotion and practicing kindness. Human relationships are complex, messy, and ever-changing. We are always learning how to more effectively express ourselves and how to better share time, love, and life with other people.
This was a lovely queer fairytale that I think I could've benefited from as a child. All the characters were enjoyable, especially the snarky dragon and homebody knight, and queer representation was woven in seamlessly through characters' identities or the simple asking of others' pronouns. As an aroace person, I liked Sir Violet and felt he aligned with some of my experiences of aromanticism and asexuality.
The whole story only took me just over 2 hours to read and was delightfully kind, while still showing that people can make mistakes. The author wanted this to be a tale for all ages, and I'd say she succeeded. It would especially make for a nice bedtime story for any children in your life.
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