A review by magicalghoul
The Paper Wasp by Lauren Acampora

mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

So I liked the descriptions of the audiovisual and dreams, the blurred state of reality and dreams. I also have to bring up the Beautiful prose and the precise, rich imagery.

The use of an unreliable narrator was well done, and Abby's character becomes clear enough the more time we spend with hee- at first presented as a meek follower, later actually condescending to Elise.

But, maybe it's because we don't see Elise from Abby's biased perspective, I kept expecting more from her. She gets no development and seems to prove to be as vapid and hopeless as Abby characterizes her.

My favorite passages were the ones about the dreams and premonitions. It's clear early on that Abbie is mentally ill in addition to being avoidant, so the ambiguity of whether her delusions are actually prescient was one that kept me engaged - it's open-ended, but the definitive answer doesn't come until much later (and even that feels like a fever dream, which I also enjoyed).

I wasn't invested in the subplot with Paul, but at least Abbie brought up how exploitative the whole endeavor was.

Through no fault of its own, I personally was expecting something a bit more focused on the relationship between Abby and Elise, so when the second part branched off from them I wasn't really interested in the subplots there.

Instead it felt like it dragged on. I liked the ending, but it came too late, too watered down.

I didn't understand the stylistic choice of using the second person, I kept waiting for a moment where it was used, but it was just an embellishment, looks like.