Thendral's Take: June 2021
The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary
Plot
Addie and Dylan have the romance of their lives when they chance upon each other during a holiday in the south of France. Much to the surprise of both of them, the relationship becomes more than a summer fling. Reality and problems that once seemed small hit them in the FACE, impacting their relationship and causing a breakup.
Now, 20 months since said breakup, they chance upon each other yet again while on their way to a mutual friend's wedding. Is there a second chance here?
My Thoughts
You guys. I cried when all the way through the last quarter of the book! There are moments in here where I LAUGHED out loud and there are moments that WILL tug on your heartstrings. Beth O'Leary has this INCREDIBLE quality of infusing some truly DARK themes in such a lighthearted way! In the first book (The flatshare), she explored an abusive ex + stalker. This one, I don't want to spoil it for you but you're not going to see it coming.
It's told from the point of view of the two main characters from past and present so you will find that essentially, you're alternating reading four points of view. Yet, as long as you check the "then" and "now" and check the character's name listed at the top of the page, it's completely easy to keep up with the story. And this made for a very cool, very holistic read. Like you actually see the story from everyone's point of views rather than the author showing the various points of view for you. This was such a beautiful story and I actually think I like this much more than Flatshare! Everytime I read about a couple, I'm quick to determine if this is the kind of relationship I want or not. In this case, it wasn't, but I understood what they saw in each other and I liked them as a couple. They are both flawed, and it's so easy to criticise them or assume what they should have done, but I don't think how that's how real life works - it's always easier for us to tell someone else what to do but the probabilities of us doing the same thing when we are under the same circumstances are often null. And that's what made this book authentic and more likeable than The Flatshare.
Overall
Make this your next read! Beth O'Leary is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors. I like my happily ever afters, but the older I get, the more I understand that life isn't completely rosy - and I absolutely adore her style of writing in being able to make characters so complex, explore serious themes, and yet keep it all accessible and give everyone the fairytale ending my romantic heart longs for.
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
My Thoughts
Huge, HUGE TW: addictions, sexual assault, rape, postpartum depression
Like the book says, it takes you through 12 women, ranging from 1800s to the present day. They are all of different ages, sexualities, sexual identities, origins, socioeconomic backgrounds. These themes don't fit in the neat, tidy black and white boxes the way society tries so hard to define the world by. So some of the topics discussed may be a little hard to digest so go in with an absolute, open mind. Grace was my favourite character, something about her spoke to me. I went back and reread her character's story when the book ended. The writing is a mixture of poetry, prose, stanzas and they all just mesh and fuse into one fluid story which makes for incredible storytelling. It's also a very effective form of writing because moments that cut your heart into 2 were often just half a sentence or a word.
Butttt that means some of the lines that were supposed to be conversations between people just don't sound the way people speak. I also didn't agree with the way some of the themes were presented (Spoiler alert: One of the characters was r*ped by her stepfather as a minor and the author chose to word the whole thing as "her virginity was stolen". I really, REALLY didn't like this. It's one among the few things I had a hard time wrapping my head around in this book.) Around character no 7 or 8, I felt a little exhausted because there's ALOT going on around politics, gender identity, feminism and it does feel a liiiittttlleee like I'm being lectured at. Which is not what I personally want in a book.
Nonetheless, I've no idea how the author managed to give these 12 women such different voices and characters, I naturally have an overactive imagination and this book only made it so easy to conjure images of their lives. All of them are women who have made something out of their lives, specifically during times women were told to make nothing.
Overall
I was starstruck when the book ended because I felt I had lived so many different lives from so many different eras but when I thought about it, there were things from the book that irked me.
Now should you read this? Yes, if you're curious about people you don't see in mainstream literature. But also, like I said before, I don't think this book is for everyone because you really need to go in with an open mind. And if you're like me and stay in the frame of mind of a book you read or a movie you watched for a LONG time, this will stay with you and it might not be in the most pleasant way possible.
*Subscribe to my monthly newsletter, "Thendral's Telegraph" here!*
