A brief, unorganized review of Phoenix (spoilers, obv)
So I was aware of something major happening in the opening chapters of the book, but actually learning it was Victor’s sudden death was...goddamn. Still, days later, that’s my first reaction when I think about it. And then I was pissed, because Victor’s onion-y layers were my favorite; Alex’s reading of the diaries was a bit of a balm, but still. Even though my thoughts are still “goddamn!” on repeat, I loved the exploration of different methods of grieving.
ANYWAYS.
Stuff that was less or not at all sad that I loved:
Alex’s and Gemma’s friendship strain. Being a terrible person in terms of maintaining long term friendships, stories about people struggling with this for various reasons resonate with me a lot.
Olivia, Paul’s new writing partner. I hope she is in future books.
Carly. Just, all of the Carly. If I had a single complaint about Carly in this book, it’s that there wasn’t enough Carly.
Darcy being Darcy.
So much snappy dialogue I wish I could pull up on my Kindle to quote here, but I was too lazy to highlight. I’m a bad active reader. (My college adviser always told me to work out with the text more--sorry, Greg!)
The Deliberately Cute In Public publicity tour to combat the backseat hookup and the insanity of the Entertainment Gossip Industrial Complex.
This disjointed half-formed list doesn’t do the book justice. I loved every second of reading it and was suitably let down to reach the end and realize it’ll be months before we get the next one.
