Grundsätzlich angenehm geschrieben, leider hat mich die Handlung immer nur phasenweise abgeholt, sodass das Buch sich total gezogen hat. Was für mich persönlich auch manchmal anstrengend war, war die Protagonistin, wodurch ich mehrfach das Buch weglegen musste. Besonders anstrengend zu lesen waren die Passagen, in denen sie Nachrichten verfasste, die ihre Gedanken darstellten. Es fühlte sich häufig erzwungen, repetitiv und unnötig an. Ich erwischte mich mehrfach bei dem Gedanken, dass es einfach mal weitergehen müsse. Als sehr positiv empfand ich die linguistischen Einschübe, die sowohl zum Reflektieren des eigenen Nutzens von Sprache anregten, aber auch vor Augen führen, wie Sprache verschiedene Schichten der Gesellschaft sowohl vereint als auch trennt. Außerdem angenehm war, dass das Buch sehr grundlegend menschliche Gefühle und Bedürfnisse erwähnt, sodass ein Gefühl des Verständnisses und der Gemeinschaft mit den Akteuren entsteht.

in the beginning, i was a little skeptical. this novel has a very distinct style, but i had to get used to it, as the characters, the narrator especially, felt so distant from the reader. ultimately though, it was like meeting a new person and getting to know them very slowly, and suddenly being a part of their life. you could say the pacing in this is a bit odd, but i really enjoyed it more the more i read! ava is such an interesting, if not always relatable character, and i'd like to follow more of her life! with many references to politics, discussions about privilege and class, exciting times is a very smart novel. what i enjoyed most about it, however, was how it offers new and different perspectives on love, relationships, and connections between people.

Similar to Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney and didn't like it either. CWF had at least some mental health topics that I found interesting to read about but this one was even worse. Why was this set in Hong Kong again? There was no real reason for that other than seemingly making it more 'diverse'? I really hoped we would get some information about moving to and working in a different country in your early twenties, because this was what intrigued me initially about the book. Didn't understand the main characters motives and didn't like what she was doing throughout the book, also hated her racist and stereotyped thoughts. Disliked Julian for the most part. There were some things the main character thought about that I could relate to and I liked those parts. Story was not exactly boring, I was somewhat intrigued at first, but lost interest in part 2 and 3. Didn't root for the relationships enough to care about the ending, no matter how it would've ended.

Similar to Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney and didn't like it either. CWF had at least some mental health topics that I found interesting to read about but this one was even worse. Why was this set in Hong Kong again? There was no real reason for that other than seemingly making it more 'diverse'? I really hoped we would get some information about moving to and working in a different country in your early twenties, because this was what intrigued me initially about the book. Didn't understand the main characters motives and didn't like what she was doing throughout the book, also hated her racist and stereotyped thoughts. Disliked Julian for the most part. There were some things the main character thought about that I could relate to and I liked those parts. Story was not exactly boring, I was somewhat intrigued at first, but lost interest in part 2 and 3. Didn't root for the relationships enough to care about the ending, no matter how it would've ended.

Similar to Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney and didn't like it either. CWF had at least some mental health topics that I found interesting to read about but this one was even worse. Why was this set in Hong Kong again? There was no real reason for that other than seemingly making it more 'diverse'? I really hoped we would get some information about moving to and working in a different country in your early twenties, because this was what intrigued me initially about the book. Didn't understand the main characters motives and didn't like what she was doing throughout the book, also hated her racist and stereotyped thoughts. Disliked Julian for the most part. There were some things the main character thought about that I could relate to and I liked those parts. Story was not exactly boring, I was somewhat intrigued at first, but lost interest in part 2 and 3. Didn't root for the relationships enough to care about the ending, no matter how it would've ended.