andintothetrees's reviews
586 reviews

I have a difficult relationship with Dawn O'Porter's books. I always want to read them, and generally find them enjoyable to read, but often have a lot of issues with their content/messaging. I also really like Dawn as a person (and have done since her TV days) so I feel a bit mean criticising them, but, this one in particular was just not very good. At all.

There were a few things I liked: the Guernsey setting, the early 2000s setting, and Flo - I found her quite relatable in that she loves being a "behind the scenes" person who organises things for others and doesn't want any limelight. Renee however was extremely annoying, but I'll get to that.

Spoilers follow, you've been warned.

I made notes as I went along, and the rate at which I was writing them decreased as I got into the second half of the book, which is notably better than the first. The first half is solidly 1 star territory but the second half was more 2.5/3 star. 

On to the notes:
* No one said adulting in 1998. How did an editor miss this?
* The forms that Renee fills in at the job agency with sarcastic and "I'm mad me" type answers - not funny, just stupid. Is she early 20s or 12? It's completely unbelievable that anyone would offer her any sort of work based on those.
* Casual homophobia in the office - Flo and Renee are at pains to say "don't worry, we're not lesbians", as if being gay is the worst thing anyone could be. OK it was the early 2000s and this is redeemed a bit as the novel progresses but it doesn't land well or reflect positively on the characters
* The whole thing feels as if it was written for kids with short sentences and simple vocabulary (yet the content is definitely not for children)
* Women's appearances are described in a problematic way with a lot of body shaming and overall judgement of how attractive they are. In this way it does feel very early 2000s but I don't think it's only there as a reflection of the time it's set in - it's done in a way that assumes women go around judging how everyone else looks 24/7 and that this is fine and normal.
* Renee is getting paid over £10/hour as a receptionist in 2001?! And one of her same age friends is on £60k/year at the same time - hmm. I know wages are higher there than in mainland UK but really?
* Another basic editing error - it's said Renee buys a shirt in one shop, then goes to another shop, in which she steals the shirt in the changing room whilst trying on a dress. But it was originally in a different shop?! Also this shirt has tortoises on it, and as the book continues there's a lot about a "frog print" shirt. Is this the same shirt or...?
* The word eyelids is written instead of eyebrows
* There's a scene where Flo and Renee compare their labia (& they're not even drunk at the time) as if this is something women generally do. I mean no judgement if you do this with your friends but in my 40 years this is not something that has ever happened. There's a lot of "vagina" talk generally (and yes the word she's really looking for is "vulva") which jars with the childish writing style
* The phrase "hormonal fuckery" is used - I don't think we said this 25 years ago
* Another few examples of causual body shaming -"left to our own devices we'd all be enormous", and a bit where one character says she buys all her clothes 2 sizes bigger so she can feel good about herself
* The whole job/office situation is so unbelievable. Why are there so many people working there? An office that size wouldn't need a manager and a receptionist, even in 2001. Wtf do they do all day?
* Why does Flo's mum do such a 360 at the end? I guess it's supposed to be some sort of redemption arc but it comes from nowhere
* Flo's mum reads a book that wasn't out yet (OK, only just, but again - not amazing attention to detail) 
* Renée and Flo both go on about what a great writer Renee is, due to her way with words in lines such as "Love is a disease. It will go away over time and then I'll be healthy again, but until then, I just have to suffer"

Plot/compellingness 2/5
Themes 2/5
Characters 3/5 (mostly for Flo and some of the side characters. Renee was just irritating and immature)
Emotional resonance 1/5
Writing style 2/5

Plot/compellingness 3/5 
Themes 5/5
Characters 4/5
Emotional resonance 5/5
Writing style 5/5

Plot/compellingness 3/5
Themes 4/5
Characters 4/5
Emotional resonance 5/5
Writing style 5/5

Listened to the audiobook. I have felt quite preoccupied with age since ascending to the 4th floor last year so this seemed ~ relevant to my interests ~. It was a thought-provoking look at the lives and thoughts of 15 different women, reflecting on their experience of being 40-ish. Before starting the book I had read criticisms of the writers being too same-y, and that is absolutely a valid point - this is not a wide ranging representation of experience at all. But knowing that, it lived up to my expectation of "privileged American professional female writers sharing thoughts on being 40" and held my attention pretty well (which isn't always easy for me with audiobooks). My favourite essays were the one about a woman and her best friend since childhood, and the one written by a teacher. My least favourite was the one that spent a lot of time talking about beauty products! I agree with others that it would have been better to have had a *much* wider range of women represented here, but I enjoyed it for what it was.

Writing this before reading any other reviews so I don't get swayed! This was... OK? Fine I guess? It was easy to read, though the plot was pretty basic/predictable and some aspects of it felt a bit out of touch* (the party at the start was unbelievable, too!). But I wasn't bored or annoyed at all. I wasn't expecting anything deep so I wasn't disappointed. 

* spoiler but basically the whole Gary thing in particular was way more problematic on many levels than any of the characters were prepared to address

Plot/compellingness 3/5
Themes 3/5
Characters 3/5
Emotional resonance 3/5
Writing style 4/5

It's been a while since I read anything as plot driven as this, I used to read quite a few "domestic thrillers" but after a while they got samey/predictable so I stopped. I was drawn to this one as I liked the idea of the remote Scottish island setting and the mysterious piece of art (and enigmatic artist) at the centre of it all. I thought the characters were generally well-drawn and multi-layered. Generally I was keen to pick this book up, though the plot ebbed and flowed a bit, feeling very slow at times. I really liked the inclusion of Vanessa's diary, and the letters and emails which appeared. Overall - an enjoyable read, but it hasn't inspired me to read more thrillers.

Potential spoiler-y thoughts:

I didn't love the ending, I wanted Becker to escape or be found! I enjoyed the "evolution" of Grace and liked her as a villain! I wanted to know more about why Sebastian was so keen to stay friends with/employ Becker after what happened with Helena, and I don't think we ever really understood why Vanessa left everything to Douglas, other than to spite Emmeline? I felt we were left with a few loose ends tbh

I'm not a huge fan of short stories as they don't really have time to get you lost in the story or really develop the characters, but I made an exception for Eliza Clark and did enjoy this collection. A lot of the stories are more speculative or even straight up science fiction than her novels, and I heard her say on a podcast that her 3rd novel is likely to be in that genre... I am definitely interested to see how that goes. Favourite stories here were The King and Shake Well. I enjoyed The Shadow Over Little Chitaly a lot too. 

I'm aiming to make the most of my Spotify subscription and listen to an audio book a month in 2025. Trouble is, I find them really hard to concentrate on, so I started with this - a memoir read by the author - as it didn't feel too different to a podcast. It's also not very long!

The book consists of very short chapters, and I think it would have been a 2.5 star book, but for an audiobook it worked better.

I didn't overly enjoy the parts of the book that were basically just "tales of outrageous (and often traumatic) nights" but the last third or so about how Lou got into comedy, and the more reflective chapters about recovery and spirituality were excellent.

First book of 2025 and... I didn't love it.

Minor(ish) spoilers for the whole book ahead, so don't read this review if you want to go into the book knowing nothing. 

There were a few things this book did well - the descriptions of tween/early teen friendship issues/bullying, which brought me right back to that stage of life (although in my case no phones were involved); and it made me think about young people and internet use in general, without offering any easy answers (especially as I have tween-age children) - sure you can say "just don't let them use it" but that brings its own issues of isolation when the internet and "real life" are so entwined. Keeping lines of communication and understanding open between the generations seems to be the ideal, and not something that happened in the main character's family. 

The writing style is rather opaque and utilises various literary techniques that aren't necessarily easy on the reader - the novel is told entirely in the 2nd person (got to admit I hated this, though I did get used to it after a while), it jumps around in time without any clear markers, and the main character doesn't have a name. There is also a magical realism element which I *really* disliked and didn't seem to fit at all. It was a humourless book and whilst I am not opposed to reading about "dark" topics (in fact to some extent I seek that out) there has to be some balance or it all just feels depressing.

There isn't much plot at all and a lot of the second half in particular centres around a will they/won't they romance that tbh I just couldn't care about and was largely hindered purely by the two people concerned avoiding speaking to each other openly.

It didn't help that none of the main characters were particularly interesting or likeable. Even the MC was completely bland. She went through some traumatic experiences which did shape her and I'm not discounting that. But apart from these experiences, her internet usage and her relationships with a handful of friends/family members, we know nothing about her. What are her interests, her hopes and dreams? 

A lot of people have enjoyed this book, so it perhaps is the case that it just didn't work *for me* and my preferences for fiction. I'm probably a bit too old for it too, as a lot of the positive reviews of this book reference how nostalgic people found it, and as an elder Millennial phones weren't ubiquitous until I was nearing 30, and whilst I used the internet at school and university it was because I was a nerd, not because it was what everyone did. 

Plot/compellingness 2/5
Themes 3/5
Characters 1/5
Emotional resonance 2/5
Writing style 2/5

Plot/compellingness 3/5 - it was a bit slow in parts and felt perhaps a tad too long, and though I did really enjoy the book overall this prevented it being a 5 star read for me
Themes 5/5
Characters 4/5
Emotional resonance 5/5
Writing style 5/5