Happy Hour

This was an overall very enjoyable, summery read. I picked it up at a bookstore, enchanted by the cover and the sleeve glimpsing into chaotic lives of 20-something girlies in NYC (relevant!). The writing felt new and exciting. While I ultimately didn't mind that the book didn't have much of a plot, I probably would've preferred it to be shorter.

OMG this book. I listened to the audio version instead of reading the pages of this book. It was reminiscent of the movie Clueless... And that was exactly how I felt listening to this. To the contrived language, tone and accent (it literally conjured images of Cher saying, “as if”), to the extreme scenarios these two young ladies put themselves in. I just didn't get it.

I almost DNF'd it. But I haven't done that yet since tracking... so I stuck with it. As if!

I just could not finish this book, there is absolutely no plot!

3.25

This is not a novel, it's a diary of a tweenager. An absolutely obnoxious, self-important snob of a tweenager, who according to herself is absolutely amazing and capable and just simply the best, yet is struggling to make ends meet and has no visible ambition in life. She's not even fun or good company.
I kept reading because for a while it seemed the friendship between the two main characters was somewhat redeeming. But then even that turned sour and it transpired that our MC clearly hates her bestie.
I only finished the thing so I could sit and seethe a little longer.

Painful, ego-upping venture this.

(flopping between a 2 and a 3 star)

I thought I would love this. I too am a young girl in my twenties who finds myself in the art scene. While the dialogue is impressive I found that the main characters own dialogue was utterly unbelievable which was a contrast to her inner dialogue which I found funny. She goes back and forth between simple honest observations about class, life, art, to shallow, naive, self-righteous lines, this jump is usually pretty quick and I huffed in laughter a few times at the jump. I consider this part of what the book was trying to accomplish, not quite a child but definitely not an adult.

Isa and Gala were irritating to me, they squandered their months in New York by not using the network of people they had set up. They wasted money and time, which is another symptom of being young. They never used their strengths, this bothered me most in Isa. Every character looks down upon Gala but I do not see how Isa and Gala are different. Isa annoyed because she was never shown this, or never understood. Nothing ever came of her friendship with Gala in terms of depth, action, or meaning, or in storyline I should say. Her and Gala are friends because they understand each other, are alike, and have known each other a long time, but what else?

This book does not rely on plot it is carried by conversation and characters but I found these characters boring. I never wondered about their relationship, if it would end or change. I never wondered about any of these relationships.

So why did I keep reading? Because of the prose. The writing lulls you into it, it sets atmosphere well, has a strong consistent tone that does not question or doubt itself.

I truly loved the first thirty pages of this book. I was excited to be reading something that felt observant and fresh. But then it was essentially just the same thirty pages and attempts at quippy 20-something commentary over and over until the end.

Don't get me wrong, I looooove a book with no plot, but this book had plot but felt like it didn't? The writing was formulaic but almost like the author thought she was pulling a fast one on the readers and that we wouldn't notice.

No snark intended