Darby McLaughlin > Recent Status Updates

ICELAND LETS GOOOOOOOOO

NOOOO TELL ME MOREEE ugh but i can also imagine that he is gracious with her. He had a good life, and she gave him that. It may take a while, but I think he can appreciate that.

“And I marveled at how so much of our lives, in the bizarre and twisted way of the world, had been put into motion by my walk to town on an October day when I was seventeen years old.”
This is the best way to describe the butterfly effect. That’s what this whole book is.

That was beautiful. I forgot I was reading someone else reading. Inga wrote so well and with just enough detail that I saw the way her life mirrored Torie’s. One gruff older man, a young boy misguided and angry, a softer boy from nowhere who was good, and a girl trying to be what everyone needed. I don’t want this book to end now. I think I’ll really miss these characters. I’m attached to both girls.

“Eventually, I gave up the notebook and novels I pointlessly carried in the diaper bag and stopped longing for the life I might have had.” So much to be said here. Her old life shrouded in motherhood, hidden behind the needs of her child.

I’m really excited to read the other mother’s perspective. Also, calling her Forest Mother is so perfect. I’m glad he didn’t get abandoned.

It’s just such a nice read. I’m curious about Seth. He seems okay now, but something could really set him off. I’m glad Ruby-Alice passed on, she deserves to be with her family. What is Torie going to do with all those dogs.

This book is so sad, in a slow, building kind of way. It’s very gentle. There’s a lot of promise for Tori though, I think.

Wait, is he coming back??

I like that he used a phrase that seemed sexual “just put his pants on in a dark room, shirt untucked, hair messy,” and then introduced this teacher to remind us of what happened between them or indicate to people who forgot, but can make the connection between the descriptors and then the next scene.

I just love this man. Not Peter, he’s pissing me off. Fredrick Backman.

Gonna fly through this. It’s trope for trope. Self-indulgent tbh but idc
Spelled skeptically wrong. (Spelled it like “sceptically”)

I also may be dumb, but I don’t understand why at the beginning of the whole trial and legal process, there was such a set idea that LGBTQ organizations were going to be watching the case. Idk what that has to do with it.

I also don’t feel connected to Gwen at all. I find her ditzy and unconnected to the struggles Lacey is facing. She doesn’t seem to understand the gravity of her life. I guess I sort of understand why Lacey fell in love with her, but I don’t feel connected to their relationship or that I want them to persist in any way.

I think this book is confusing me because the time jumps are not done very well. All of the sudden we’re introduced to a new setting or event in a way that makes it feel like we’ve just been dropped through the ceiling. None of the characters will tell us how we got here and the explanation is vague and off-hand. I have to go back and reread passage after passage to get my bearings.

I really like Lacey/Jo because I feel like I understand her and her motives. She is direct but not mean and really leans into her avoidance and overthinking.

She deserved to kill someone. I’m glad it was who it was, and not someone innocent.

The narration style is really good, I like how it really does feel like the narrator is talking about a memory.

I really like the first person POV. It’s done very well.

I knew it. There was no way she was still grieving her mother this brightly.

The final stretch. I don’t know if I’m ready😭

“…but she can see the pain in his eyes, fast as a camera flash before he buries it, and clears his throat.” The pain is all you can see, almost blinds you with how open and bright it is, and then it’s gone and you can’t remember how long it was there, only that it was.

Schwab does such a fantastic job with time jumps and making them feel very fluid. I don’t feel like I’ve missed big chunks of the characters story when there’s a large jump in time because she blends it so well and makes the descriptions of the time vague but also with just enough description.

I also really love the way V. E. Schwab is writing LGBTQ love. It’s not a big proclamation, it’s just love.

I’m really really liking the pacing of this book. It’s moving with the perfect speed where it’s fast forwarding and then stopping and then going again. Also loving the comparison of stories between (so far, only two) the two characters. It’s really interesting to see how their experiences could’ve been so similar but are vastly different because of who they were before.

“…unpicks a decades worth of warnings as she lowers her guard…” imagery AGAIN.

“…the knowledge skirts her thoughts as if she cannot look straight at it.” Imagery is literally unmatched.

V. E. Schwab is a fucking mastermind.

Oh fuck

The noise of the party I didn’t even know was playing in my head literally muffled when this flashback and I saw it in my mind like my own memory. V.E. Schwab is insane.