lils wills > Recent Status Updates

on 196 he talks about not understanding that he was loved because it wasn’t in the ways he thought it would be. that he was searching for the traditional love that came from someone not traumatized…i really loved this and related to it.

‘let the church say amen’ almost had me teary eyed.

starting ‘we sing sin.’

i finished ‘we lurk late,’ about to start ‘we strike straight.’

‘arena’ and ‘sandalwood’ were super strong back-to-back chapters…two of my favorite so far.

i finished ‘we real cool’ and am about to start ‘we our late.’ i think it’s very clever and cool that brian split up his novel into sections from the poem, “we real cool” by gwendolyn brooke’s. when he was my prof, he had us read it. the ‘we real cool’ section was incredible.

he has some really great lines and scene writing in here.

stunning writing. this is refreshing after reading diary of an oxygen thief…that writing was…welp.

so i finally made it to chapter 3.

1. i don’t like how the timeline is switched, its so hard to keep track of what’s happening…i have to stay and stop in the middle of paragraphs because there are no natural stopping points either.
2. the blonde chick warning the narrator about ainsling is actually cheese. cornball.
3. i like the concept but fuck i wish it was better organized.

i like the voice used here…it’s personal, introspective, and raw. however, the past and present gets really jumbled together. i like to jump timelines via flashbacks in my pieces, but this is a whole other level of timeline jumping. it’s hard to even know where the current scene is taking place someonetimes…

there’s some really great paragraphs in here.

hate him actually.

do they ever stop to shit or is it just like not something that people on horseback do?

okay so i feel like the trope of: boy is mean to girl, girl loves it, needs to end. like especially in SCHOLASIC BOOKS. we need to stop normalizing that? i understand jack being an ass to katie could be part of their story/character development…but its not. there isn’t a solid, complex enough reason for this trope to be happening…idk…it’s just there bc it’s common and something that authors think is okay

this is moving along pretty quickly. there isn’t much detail with each scene. i really like miranda july’s writing, so i feel like i look for her type of scene writing in everything. but this is a good concept for a tween book, something for 12-15 y/o. it keeps my attention and has a cool concept with the woven tapestries.

bruh. i don’t remember tween books being so unrealistic. even the fantasy ones ?? i don’t know maybe i just didn’t ever really read kids books.

yeah i didn’t know this was gonna be a book for like tweens…i should have known it literally says scholastic on it. i’m just trying to amp up the amount of books i read so i guess this will be a good practice book while im waiting for liars to come in the mail.

i like the way emma cline writes younger characters…her inferiority is stronger there. the scenes in the construction house with jack was so well done. the small details (chocolate almonds, jack’s inexperience and features, construction) it was all so believable.

okay chapter 7 is my favorite so far. i really liked the whole margaret thing…her in the house with her, the selfie, the desperation, the makeup, the pool, everything. it felt real, like emma clone created a real character? i don’t know something about margaret felt more genuine than the other characters…

i was skeptical to see how emma cline was going to keep an interesting plot going…it felt overused at the beginning. but i actually really like the creativity here, with alex being hoisted to different parts of the hamptons until labor day.