Initially I said I didn't know how I could possibly rate this book. That's still true, but I'm back to do my best.
The reputation Stone Butch Blues hasInitially I said I didn't know how I could possibly rate this book. That's still true, but I'm back to do my best.
The reputation Stone Butch Blues has for being "depressing" isn't unwarranted, but it's also wildly reductive of the furious, vengeful, impossible hope in every chapter. This is a book so full of queer love and pain and family and history and futurity. I give it five stars first and foremost because I can tell it's going to stick with me for a very long time, if not the rest of my life. I often joke that, as a lesbian, having a fucked up gender is my birthright, but THIS is what I'm talking about. This is my ancestry. I've never really seen a celebration of trans identity quite like this: rooted in lesbianism, rooted in complication and impossibility and the beauty of contradiction. Jess's gender proudly defies categorization. She is illegible on purpose, she demands that people consider, and reconsider, and fail to make sense of her, and love her anyways. And all this unfolds alongside the history of lesbianism in America—because, of course, they are the same thing.
This is the first and only romance novel I've ever read and to the surprise of literally everyone I really liked it! I love when u can tell a queer stThis is the first and only romance novel I've ever read and to the surprise of literally everyone I really liked it! I love when u can tell a queer story was written by a queer person. Maybe it's providence that I got sick and had to stay in bed bc I probably never would've listened to this audiobook otherwise and I'm definitely glad I did. I rly wanted a different ending, but I never actually thought I was going to get it, so I'm not that upset. It was cute and sweet and funny and not much else, but that's the point I guess. It's not five stars bc I felt like I just wanted. More? I'm not sure but my five stars are nebulous things. Anyways the fact that I gave a romance 4 stars is impressive on it's own. I'm in love with Jane....more
I think this was just a little too on-the-nose for me? I was enjoying the slow creeping tension at the beginning, but then it escalated far too fast aI think this was just a little too on-the-nose for me? I was enjoying the slow creeping tension at the beginning, but then it escalated far too fast and too graphically. The characters had the potential to be really fascinating people, but the book wasn't long enough to give us that. Instead it was just like. Body horror shock value and a lot of animal death. Essentially, this wasn't the psychological thriller I wanted it to be—and maybe that's not the fault of the book? It's very clearly marketed as a horror novella, but I picked it up because I'll read anything with fucked up lesbians. I would recommend this if you're looking for a quick, genuinely disgusting body horror novella, but not if you're interested because of the characters, because the psychology and character work is disappointingly surface level, and we never learn enough about them to make them really gripping. The prose did have some really lovely moments, though, so I feel like maybe I would enjoy poetry or something from this author, but this was really not for me....more
Flash fiction isn't rly my thing so I was a little worried at the beginning but this only got stronger as it went on! Delightful. Gay. Max has good taFlash fiction isn't rly my thing so I was a little worried at the beginning but this only got stronger as it went on! Delightful. Gay. Max has good taste....more
This book was fun! It's a quick, jaunty, fairytale whirl through Portland. I couldn't totally take it seriously at times, the dialogue was a little siThis book was fun! It's a quick, jaunty, fairytale whirl through Portland. I couldn't totally take it seriously at times, the dialogue was a little silly and the plot just felt sort of overly convenient and improbable, but I think this is great lower YA. Some of the reviews call this "dark", which it definitely isn't, especially not in tone— it covers some serious topics, but I never got the sense that the characters were in any real danger. Their problems are generally solved quickly and at the hands of kind strangers. And, I'm not knocking it for that, I don't think this book was trying to be anything else! It's a coming-of-age fairytale that tackles themes of homelessness and drug use and abuse without really asking its characters (or readers) to confront the reality of poverty.
I have a lot of respect for what Ruiz Keil pulled off with the character of George. I hesitate to call George a nonbinary lesbian, because they don't use either of those words, but what I will say is that as someone who very well may be a nonbinary lesbian myself, this is the closest I've seen to someone like that in mainstream media, especially as a love interest. I was suspicious of the lack of pronouns, but it was way more subtle and well-executed than I expected, so props for that. I'd love to hear from autistic reviewers about Orr (and I'm gonna go read reviews after this lol), but I can't speak to that element myself. Overall though, Ruiz Keil seems to have put a great deal of thought and compassion into writing a diverse cast of characters.
Finally, this novel has some truly lovely moments of prose, and I'd definitely pick up an adult book from Ruiz Keil if she ever released one in the future. While this book wasn't anything memorable for me, I think it's solid, and certainly admirable for what it tried to do and succeeded in doing. Thank you so much to Netgalley and Soho Teen for the opportunity to read this ARC!...more
This is gonna be a long one you guys, I'm so sorry. I promise nobody is more disappointed than me. And even though I didn't love this, thank you so muThis is gonna be a long one you guys, I'm so sorry. I promise nobody is more disappointed than me. And even though I didn't love this, thank you so much to Netgalley and DartFrog Blue for sending me this ARC.
So first of all, this is not a retelling, this is a sequel. Just to be clear. We pick up immediately after the end of the great gatsby, and span almost two decades of Nick's life. During which nothing happens.
Don't get me wrong, they do a lot of things. But this by far is the most boring book I've read in a long time. None of the events matter, or affect each other, there is nothing whatsoever resembling a plot. And that, in itself, isn't a problem. I've been known to love quiet character studies where not much happens at all. The problem was that the characters were not nearly well developed enough to carry that sort of a book. In fact, characters are hardly introduced at all. The assumption is that you know them, that you know the great gatsby, and Odasso doesn't waste time with things like characterization. They seem to attempt an arc for both Jay and Nick, but because we don't see where these characters started, it's all tell and no show. The book is TELLING me these characters have developed, but really, they've and just been gallivanting around for 100 pages having dramatic moments that never lead to anything bigger.
At this point, you're probably thinking, elena, that sounds like fanfiction. Because it is. This is not a stand alone novel. In fact, I think you would have no goddamn idea what was going on unless you'd read gatsby, because the book constantly references the original with no attempt to explain (my personal favorite being petals described as "the color of jays old suit"). So, okay. This is fanfiction. Meet it where it's at, review it as fanfiction!
The problem is that it's still bad fanfiction. I love fanfiction. I write fanfiction. I've written Gatsby fanfiction, even. The fact that this started on ao3 is one of the reasons I wanted to like it so badly. But if I had seen this on ao3, I never would have read it, because it's exactly the kind of fanfiction I hate. This is fanfiction that completely misses the point of the text it's pulling from. Why ressurect Gatsby? Why erase the tragic ending? Does the author have anything interesting to say about that? I was willing to give them a chance. Unfortunately, the answer seems to be, "so I can write fluffy domestic kidfic with no stakes". And there is absolutely a market for that, but god, I am not in it. They fuck for the first time on page 17 and then they don't stop until halfway through the book, at which point, it switches gears and becomes about the trials and tribulations of raising a teenager with a neglectful mother.
Speaking of which. Lets talk about Daisy. This book made my fucking blood boil with the way it treated Daisy Buchanan. Odasso seems to not only fundamentally misunderstand her character, but unabashedly hate her. Daisy in the great gatsby is an imperfect person, a misguided person who makes mistakes and hurts people in the process. Daisy in this book is a monster bitchwife that Nick can't so much as think about without resorting to upsetting, furious thoughts. It's perhaps my least favorite trope in gay fanfiction, the complete character assassination and neglect of the female characters for the sake of the male romantic leads. It's exhausting, and it's so common in fandom. This book wants me to believe that it's about growing, changing, becoming a better person. But it's not. It's about misrepresenting characters to serve a narrative. I can't help but think this was done just to give Jay and Nick an excuse to adopt Pam, a plotline that did not have enough narrative payoff to justify itself. If you're going to be fanfiction, which this undeniably is, you have to at least commit to the one facet that makes fanfiction what it is: the characters. You can't have your original novel cake and eat it too.
The writing and the dialogue are clunky, but I'm not going to bother with that, I don't think it's the biggest problem by far. Odasso seems to occasionally want to imitate the style of the original, but it's inconsistent, and given that they're trying to imitate one of the most stunning things about the original, all it ends up doing is reminding me I'd rather be reading that book. The handling of social issues is hamfisted and inelegant, which is a shame, because I think it could've been excellent commentary if it weren't so poorly executed.
If you read 100k kidfic fix-it tagged "everything is beautiful and nothing hurts", this book is for you. Otherwise, it is not worth your time....more
Reading this book felt like someone had found a list of things I like in books, randomized it, and given it to an AI to write me a novel. It didn't reReading this book felt like someone had found a list of things I like in books, randomized it, and given it to an AI to write me a novel. It didn't really do anything wrong, and there were certainly elements and themes that I'm aware I enjoy in other books, but like. You can still tell it was written by an AI....more
This book is so boring and I just had an epiphany moment of clarity where I realized I simply do not care how it ends. Points for lesDNF at 69% (nice)
This book is so boring and I just had an epiphany moment of clarity where I realized I simply do not care how it ends. Points for lesbians. Points taken off because did this even have an editor holy shit...more