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papertraildiary's review
4.0
Glorious account of the time barriers after a breakup. I love Stacey's writing, and Marlena's art was a great addition. Depressing as hell, but I needed to read that.
megan_prairierose's review
4.0
Pretty sure most of us have dealt with a bad break-up and while this book takes her recovery to the extreme, a lot of us have been there. Plus this book has pictures!
luckypluto's review
2.0
Despite the fact that I’m not really the target audience of this novel, I was excited to read Fear of Fighting. I enjoyed the book while reading it, although afterwards I realized I had some major qualms about it. The story moves along fairly rapidly, and while the prose is not the most stellar I’ve ever read, it conveys the story well. The book is about a breakup and the resulting loneliness of a twentysomething, a topic that many (including me) can relate to. I was engaged while reading it—it’s a good, albeit depressing, story—but I wasn’t particularly fond of the ending, or even the cast.
First of all, the characters: I feel that Fowles relies too heavily on stereotypes that are readily identifiable to urban twentysomethings. You have Ben, the good-looking, slightly messy musician with a heart of gold who always knows the right thing to say; his new girlfriend, the sexy tramp who naturally lives above a thrift store (Fowles’ words, not mine); and the main character, unloveable, who can’t seem to get her life together. The cast just seems so contrived; there’s not really anything to set them apart from other novels in this genre, not really anything to draw you to them. Nothing to see here, move along.
The ending was flat, stereotypical, and unconvincing as well. I won’t go into more detail to avoid ruining it, but you can see it coming from a mile away, minus a couple details, and I felt like it didn’t really drive any sort of point home.
Still, I enjoyed reading Fear of Fighting—so much so that I’d really like to give the book more stars, but I can’t see fit to do that, given its flaws.
First of all, the characters: I feel that Fowles relies too heavily on stereotypes that are readily identifiable to urban twentysomethings. You have Ben, the good-looking, slightly messy musician with a heart of gold who always knows the right thing to say; his new girlfriend, the sexy tramp who naturally lives above a thrift store (Fowles’ words, not mine); and the main character, unloveable, who can’t seem to get her life together. The cast just seems so contrived; there’s not really anything to set them apart from other novels in this genre, not really anything to draw you to them. Nothing to see here, move along.
The ending was flat, stereotypical, and unconvincing as well. I won’t go into more detail to avoid ruining it, but you can see it coming from a mile away, minus a couple details, and I felt like it didn’t really drive any sort of point home.
Still, I enjoyed reading Fear of Fighting—so much so that I’d really like to give the book more stars, but I can’t see fit to do that, given its flaws.
ellstar's review
5.0
We all have been a Marnie at one point or another, or at least have known one. She's that sad, strange being left behind when one whole breaks into two halves. Fear of Fighting follows Marnie's slip into invisibility during the end of her relationship with Ben and beyond their breakup. Solo trips to the grocery store are coated in loathing, piles of self help books in good spirit only help to break hers and even her cat seems to resent her being inside all day.
But the best part about this book is that with every break up, every depressing moment of moping, the darkest spots often are no more than a shade of grey. I really enjoyed following Marnie's trip and while I've been there before, hope I won't need to experience it again.
The illustrations provided by Marlena Zuber add a whimsy to each chapter and help emphasize the loneliness, anxiety and anger in the book. A great collaboration.
But the best part about this book is that with every break up, every depressing moment of moping, the darkest spots often are no more than a shade of grey. I really enjoyed following Marnie's trip and while I've been there before, hope I won't need to experience it again.
The illustrations provided by Marlena Zuber add a whimsy to each chapter and help emphasize the loneliness, anxiety and anger in the book. A great collaboration.
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