Crushing
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When do you stop starting over? The sparkling new novel from the author of No Hard Feelings. Getting over someone is not that difficult. All you have to do is focus on every negative thing about them for the rest of your life until you forget to stop actively hoping for their slow and painful death, then get a haircut ... Serial monogamist Marnie is running late to her own identity crisis. After a decade of twisting herself into different versions of the ideal girlfriend, she's swearing off relationships for good. Forever. Done. No more, no thank you. Pretty inconvenient time to meet Isaac: certified dreamboat and the only man who has ever truly got her. It's cool, though, they're just friends, he's got someone else, and she has more important things to worry about. Like who she is, what she wants, and what the hell she ever saw in the love(s) of her life in the first place. Flanked by overwhelmed new mum Nicola, terminally single Claud, and eternal pessimist Kit, Marnie reckons with the question: who are we when we're on our own? 'Crushing stings with truth and aches with hope. I loved it.' Jessica Dettmann 'A sharp, funny and biting exploration of a classic millennial existential crisis ... with some genuine laugh-out-loud moments' Books+Publishing 'A sexy, complex, bittersweet dark chocolate souffle of a book: airily paced, tartly funny, and with a romantic centre that's just gooey enough' Clare Fletcher 'Bingeable, sharply written, and hilarious, Crushing had me hooked from the first page. This book is filled with love, rage, and wisdom, and reading it felt like having a wine with a best friend.' Victoria Brookman, author of Burnt Out Praise for No Hard Feelings: 'Funny, biting, vulnerable and unflinching, Novak's novel is like an ocean dip: a bit salty, very refreshing' Lauren Sams 'No Hard Feelings is clever, funny and surprisingly sweet, and Penny captured my heart' Toni Jordan 'Wry and witty' Saturday Age
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When I tell you my copy is drenched in red ink on the margins - at least the first 80 pages,because that's how far I've gotten. As a 28 year old woman who enjoys being alone often and being independent,I found this piece of story fairly difficult to digest. The main character was insufferable and infuriating with her constant whining,the inability to exist without relying on another person. She expects everyone to live her life for her,take the lead and just tell her what to do or distract her from her own problems because she doesn't have a personality. I understand that she needed a revelation and an arc. Despite this,it takes way too long for her to get her s* together and try,even after she acknowledged the red flags. Help me!Pay attention to me! She acted like a baby,learning to live from zero. Which would've been fun to watch if she actually put in an effort. I was hoping for a more sensible character development.
The love interest falls short for me,sadly,being just as pathetic because he'd be charming if he wouldn't be taken. This should be enough of an indication for our heroine to remove herself from the situation,but somehow she manages to convince herself ‘this is okay,this is normal'. We were faced with this in the synopsis alright,but instead of making it an exciting and cute whirlwind,it only paints the main character as the homewrecker. What's worse is that as I scrolled ahead,Isaac makes no steps to resolve this situationship for another one or two hundred pages. He shares very little information with her despite being “friends”. (Guilt?) How do you not see it,girl?? Somehow it couldn't bring me to ship them and root for them. The pacing is off,can't hold my attention. I'm sure Marnie's a ✨brand new woman✨ by the end of the book,but I don't have enough time for her to figure this out,I'm sorry. I wanted to like it,I really did. But she's,and everyone else,except for Kit (her boss/friend) maybe,are super annoying. The number of books about this age group of women is limited. We're still figuring stuff out,that's right,but I'm kind of offended being portrayed this way.
No stars since I didn't finish it.
