Ratings95
Average rating4.1
the girls who get it, get it. the girls who don't probably don't need a therapist
Review of copy received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I liked this book, and I did like the main character Gilda. I hadn't thought that the book would be quite so much of a downer - perhaps calling it a hilarious book is a bit misleading. There's certainly amusing parts, but reading it when you're feeling down isn't perhaps the best idea.
Still glad I read it!
She’s just like me fr except exceptionally mentally ill <3
Fruit IS magical!! I literally thought that the day I read that line!!!!
This felt like what a downwards spiral feels like. Gilda is a lesbian who while looking for help ends up at a catholic church and doesn't say no when they mistake her as the new hire.
Gilda is often ruminating about death and that life feels like it could be cut short at any moment. There were parts that felt like disassociating. Just simply existing but I'm a total daze.
I loved this one. As someone who's struggled with their mental health, I feel seen.
Loved the book, but knocked off a star because we don't get any closure on Eli. Like...at all. And Eli's struggle was a central theme in the book. Usually that wouldn't bother me so much, and may not have caused a whole star off but it ended up feeling like Eli's gender identity and the mental health issues they faced from being in a wholly unsupportive environment were just tokenism. I want better for trans characters. The least authors and editors can do is not toss them aside in the final act of the book.
This book was, in my opinion, a great display of someone with mental health issues trying to cope. To see the main character struggle with that throughout the book made you understand her even when she did questionable things. It even made me tear up. Would pair this with books like Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.
With a title like that I expected the main character to be more of a cynic but I've been reading it in the wrong tone. She isn't nihilistic about it she is deeply concerned, and thinks about it every waking hour. Reading from a pov that's so anxious, about quite literally everything is sometimes exhausting. In addition to that sometimes I just had to stop reading because Gilda would do something that made me physically cringe. Like when instead of telling the friend of an old woman that she has passed she starts pretending to be her dead friend via email, because she figures that's what will make her happier. Because we are stuck in her head it almost makes sense why she does it. And of course she is constantly anxious about doing that too.
A lot of people seem to have found this to be depressing. Although the subject matter should be and for the characters IS depressing I found it mostly funny because of the absurdity of the situations. It ended on a more positive note than perhaps realistic, it's definitely hopeful too.
my god i have never read a book before that made me feel like my brain had been turned inside out and splattered all over the pages. this was really hard to read at times because of how real it is, how real the depiction of hypochondria is and the dread of realizing how small we are in the grand scheme of things and how alone all of that makes you feel. but there's also a lot of heart in this book and it's as full of life as much as it is full of talk of death. i am speechless
4.25 stars How could anyone think I could kill someone? I can't even kill myself.
Dryly funny & sweet, but also... don't read this unless you're ready to be sad hahaha
realistic, in a way that extends to the beauty of healing and hope. helped me get out of my head.
this was, like, major. and (tmi) so much of the narrative - its style, written with so much care - had me thinking back to the peak of my own manic phase
I absolutely loved this book, but it wouldn't be for everyone. It's dark, depressing, and has a lot of but also hopeful. I related to the main character so much and saw so many of my anxious thoughts in her head.
It was also written in a very interesting way. Short speedy segments mixed in with longer chapters. The pace was perfect for me and I finished it very quickly. I'd love to see more of our heroine.
amazing description of someone suffering from an anxiety disorder and what it's like to be queer and surrounded by catholicism — alexa, play nothing new by taylor swift featuring phoebe bridgers.
I felt so seen, the way her brain works is so well described
(the suicidal episode in particular)
but the very last sentences left me perplexed, being mentally ill isn't a mindset but a disease and you can recover only thanks too therapy :)
3,5 ⭐️
I really liked the narrator's perspective on things at first.
By the end, I was a little disappointed we did not see a netter character arc, I would have loved more than two pages of redemption actions.
kinda fell apart after the 60% mark but the ending was good again. i wanna be her friend so bad
This grabbed my attention at the beginning because of the light and quirky way Austin is able to talk about heavy mental health topics. By the end, it kind of became monotonous though. I kept reading because I wanted to find out how Grace died.. the revelation was pretty sudden at the end of the story. The pacing was pretty off the whole story and made it hard to stay engaged after about halfway through.