Autobiography of Red

Thrown off by the incest.

3.5

From the moment I cracked this open, I knew it was going to be a five star book. Just so heartbreaking the whole time, even in its hopefulness. Hopeful in its heartbreak too. Anyway, just read it.

2.5. tried reading this a number of times and today i finished it. however, i'm still not sure what i read. i can't remember it as soon as i finished lol.

can't wrap my head around the protagonists living in the present day. i've also read a song of achilles this year and i've concluded that i'm not a fan of greek mythology retellings.

If you spot someone wearing “a red singlet with white letters that read[s] TENDERLOIN,” it's probably me.

I most likely missed most of the nuances, but I enjoyed listening to it.

couldn't put this one down, read it in one sitting

Beautiful. Sensual. Part Greek mythology, part reality. Part novel, part poem. The colors and insecurities of adolescence. We all feel like monsters, we all hide our wings. One reviewer wrote this sentence: “It's erotic, but just under your skin”. I concur.

Holy shit. I can't, in all honesty, give this book 5 stars yet, because I feel like I've got at least two other re-readings ahead before the full force of Carson's work starts to really sink in. For now, though, all I can say is that I was slightly stunned...by the eloquence of her prose-poem form, the unpacking & reimagining & evolving of Greek myth that puts Eugenides to shame, and by her remarkable ability to surprise. Much gratitude to the friend who insisted I read it :)