Revised review: originally gave it a 4 but upon reflection it’s a 3*.

Section 1 started off very strong when discussing the background of Cyril’s mother. It went downhill after that.

For a book supposedly about friendship I truly could have done without the entire section about friendship. Julian and Cyril’s friendship lacks any form of true substance and is, fundamentally, based on Cyril’s attraction/adoration and I just did not like it at all. Julian is an abhorrent character, I didn’t find him funny in the slightest so for me he could have been scrapped from the story and I would have preferred it. The section about Cyril and Bastiaan was my favourite and I definitely would have preferred it if there was more background given about their initial meeting etc.

Overall, I think the topics explored throughout this were truly gut wrenching and the actual book itself was masterfully written. HOWEVER, the middle section dragged on for what felt like forever and this prevented me from truly loving this book (which I really thought, and hoped, I would).