![]() Cassidy Serhienko URGENT NEWS: Everyone drop whatever you’re doing and read this book immediately. I picked this up knowing it was going to be a cute, funny read that likely wouldn’t make me want to punch anyone. Well in part I was right but I could not have predicted just how touching and freaking funny this book was going to be. Many an eye roll were directed my way for my frequent bursts of laughter and the Cheshire Cat grin I sported for the entirety of this read, even while I was fighting back the occasional tear. Basically, this book follows the Mexican son of the first female president of the United States (elected after Obama. And yes, I KNOW) and his equally hilarious and ridiculous rivalry turned texting friendship turned romance-that-makes-Cassidy-want-to-scream with the Prince of England. Plenty of Harry Potter, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and Drag Race references are littered into the wittiest banter I’ve read in a long time. I would officially die for Alex and Henry. These two people that feel so much for each other, their friends, and the world in general, express it in such a funny way that you wish you were a part of the Super Six. I went into the book preparing to be bored and annoyed at the presence of, y’know, a plot. All I want in romance books is banter and make out sessions and if you tell me any differently then you’re a pretentious liar (what kind of maniac reads ROMANCE novels for the PLOT?). But in Red, White and Royal Blue the plot legitimately adds to the story and the character arcs rather then create unnecessary drama for the leads to fight and then… if you catch my drift. Yes, all of the political issues influenced their relationship (obviously) but it made you fall deeper in love with these characters as individuals and as a couple. Their triumphs were each others triumphs and their failures were each others failures. They actually stood together and got stronger in the face of conflict rather then fall completely apart (as romance novel leads are wont to do let's be real). Not to mention, the political landscape envisioned an America that was still f-ed up, but one that’s a little better. An America where the First Son is outed as bisexual and receives an outpouring of support for his relationship with the Prince of England. “History, huh?” And that’s an image of our neighbours down South that I think everyone, regardless of geography, needs. It would make all of my wildest dreams come true if Casey McQuiston wrote a novel for each member of Alex and Henry’s posse. Often in romance novels the friend group is more than a little flat. They’re there to take the lead out to get drunk so that they can drunk-text their romantic interest how they really feel, or to offer contrived wisdom to get the lead to realize how they really feel and stop being a jerk-wad. Maybe those scenarios feel oddly specific, but if you’ve ever read a romance novel ever then you probably feel me on a spiritual level. In this book however, the friends stand on their own. Yes, Norah, June, Pez and Bea help Alex and Henry pull their heads out of their asses, but they have lives outside of the leads that we get glimpses of and personalities that aren’t made for what Henry and Alex may need in that moment. They have their own neuroses to contend with. You don’t have to be a romance fan to love this book because every character is so freaking cool and such colossal nerds that you can’t help but grin. And if that doesn’t convince you, Meghan ACTUALLY LISTENED to me and bought this book after my aggressive recommendation, the same girl who refused to read Carry On for like two years after I told her it was wonderful. If you need me, I’ll be telling anyone who will listen how good this book is.
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![]() This novel excited me for a number of reasons: A. I find Russian war history captivating in all its brutal glory; B. it’s non fiction (a genre that I don’t dabble in very often); C. in giving voice to the female soldiers, this novel gives a much different perspective on WWII than is most often seen. In her interviews, Alexievich did not ask the women to recount technical information or the specifics of battles, rather, she focussed on the little things (the human elements). This gives a much more personal description of the war -- the reader gets to know the soldiers' motivations and fears, as well as the normalcy they tried to hang on to even in wartime. Composed of snippets from women recounting their experiences in the war, the novel at its heart is a decomposition of the bloodshed to get to the feelings and emotions felt by the women who were a part of it all. In Alexievich’s “documentary literature” style, the reader gets to know what changes in a woman’s life when she goes from being a mother to a soldier, or the struggle some women went through after the war over whether or not they could possibly become mothers after everything that happened. The women tell of how they pleaded to be sent to the front so that they could have a hand in protecting the Motherland and communism from the fascists. Everything they tell is so different from any experience I have ever had, or anything I have read about WWII; this novel forces the reader to consider a harsh reality that is difficult to imagine. Because war was and continues to be thought of as something that men do, the women who fought in WWII were often thought of as being some kind of anomaly or aberration. This was something that I did not know going into the book. I learned from the women’s accounts that they could not display their military involvement in the same way the male veterans could. Where men received praise and admiration for having military medals, the women had to hide these away, lest they be viewed as less feminine or too harsh or something much worse. This book stands to show that war is not fought only by men, but rather is a large female involvement as well. This book wasn’t a quick easy read for me. It took time to work through and process all of the things that were being remembered by the Russian women. Some parts were more uplifting: talking about how they found love during the war, or how the women tried to continue some part of their beauty routines. Other parts were more difficult: the story of how one woman worked her way through the bureaucratic organizations of the military to join her husband at the front, only to watch him die in the trench; another woman recounting finding the body of her friend who had been captured by the Germans and mutilated. Ultimately, the novel does not forget any of the gruesome details of war, which can be quite difficult to read. Sometimes I find myself living in the world of rainbows and lollipops and forget that these things happen(ed) in real life, not only in books and movies, so novels like this are an important reminder of the past. If you’re looking for a lighthearted summer read, maybe save this one for another day. If you’re looking to have history recounted from a different set of eyes and to gain a new appreciation for human resilience, give this one a go. |
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