The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
2019 • 352 pages

Ratings63

Average rating3.6

15

Imagine all the most annoying parts of the internet. People who make their entire personality out of liking one thing. People who care as much about owning books as they do reading them. Kitschy planners that are only for aesthetics. People defending gentrification, making a lot of broad ill-informed references to Africa, precocious children, and people only referring to gay men as ‘fabulous.' Put all those things together, and you have The Bookish Life of Nina Hill! This book takes place in an aggressively white version of Los Angeles and features a character with all of the quirky features of mental health disorders, but none of the downsides (unless you count her daintily fainting from a panic attack).

Past the author trying to fit in every heavily-marketed introvert trope, there's not much to this book. A poorly developed relationship where two people are attracted to each other and then fall in love after like 2 stilted conversations, a confusing lack of understanding that trivia isn't genetic, and people adopting the word family very quickly. The story was easy-going enough that I didn't hate it, but I certainly didn't like it.

April 11, 2021Report this review