This is a bittersweet and melancholy story, out to explore human emotions and frailties, and how hard it can be to understand someone, especially someone you love. The setting and the character set-ups aren't particularly grounded - this is still your showbiz/rich CEO fantasy setting, and it's all in service to the main romantic relationship without trying to realistically detail much of film-making or financial world. Xia Twingwan begins as immature and insecure/arrogant. He makes many mistakes, but does still have a conscience, and his character develops as he tries to make amends recover from trauma and move forward. Most characters are neither good or bad, and that's kind of the theme. Su Yan has his own issues going on - they're eventually sketched in, but the way he constantly shuts Twingwan out is excrutiating for the latter, and may be for some readers too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
[4.5] i started reading the novel after listening to the audio drama, and while i’m not really the type to actively seek out celebrity stories because the convoluted logistics of fame and misguided/unwarranted gossip is frustrating to read about, 瓜皮太太 has such an alluring way with words 😍
i loved the incorporation of《寻》into the story so much, especially how some notable scenes were described and acted out by one of our MCs, Xia Tingwan (夏庭晚). the parallels drawn between the script and reality were incredibly poetic. and of course, i absolutely adored Su Yan (苏言)’s love letters. they were on another level of emotion, the most heart-wrenching pieces ever!
Xia Tingwan starts off irritatingly childish and immature (not entirely his fault as Su Yan basically puts him in a bubble to protect him at the beginning of their relationship so he never gets the chance to grow up), but watching him go from letting others clean up his mess to facing the consequences of his own actions and finally become a responsible adult was a delight. yay to character development!