Scan barcode
A review by a_ab
Here We Are Now by Jasmine Warga
slow-paced
2.5
2.5*s. This book felt underbaked. It had some great ingredients (and some questionable ones), but it never really came together for me as a coherent story.
Part of it was the drama — overly dramatic artists (and not just artists) behaving in stereotypical dramatic ways for the sake of dramatic gestures or passive aggressive performative suffering. Apart from finding such behavior disgusting on the personal level, I just could not understand any of the choices they were making — repeatedly. That included the main heroine, but at least she had the excuse of being 16 and having those dramatic clowns as DNA contributors.
But another part of it was the writing. It felt like very carefully listed beats that the author was checking off in a methodical recipe-following way. None of it seemed natural or connected.
At the same time, the book wasn't bad either, I finished it and don't regret spending the time to read it. But it left me underwhelmed.
Part of it was the drama — overly dramatic artists (and not just artists) behaving in stereotypical dramatic ways for the sake of dramatic gestures or passive aggressive performative suffering. Apart from finding such behavior disgusting on the personal level, I just could not understand any of the choices they were making — repeatedly. That included the main heroine, but at least she had the excuse of being 16 and having those dramatic clowns as DNA contributors.
But another part of it was the writing. It felt like very carefully listed beats that the author was checking off in a methodical recipe-following way. None of it seemed natural or connected.
At the same time, the book wasn't bad either, I finished it and don't regret spending the time to read it. But it left me underwhelmed.