Emmie McKee > Recent Status Updates

The way Dominic is written is heart breaking. His grief and conflicting thoughts are so clear and easy to empathise with. This is a family exactly like the water that surrounds them. Calm on the surface but churning turmoil underneath. Also interesting that the two adults POVs are written in the first person, and the kids are in third person EXCEPT for Orly? Hmm...

Ok, this is hard to put down but I CANNOT get over how on-the-nose Monique's dialogue is. It's like she's just there to say outlandish, presumptuous things JUST so Evelyn can correct her (and be TJR's mouthpiece about the nuances of queerness and race). Every time Monique is corrected, she IMMEDIATELY processes, apologises perfectly and is forgiven within two or three lines. It's maddening.

I am LOVING this so far -- but it does feel a little odd that the author (a white woman) is writing about two people of colour, especially as their sense of self/character is clearly tied quite strongly to that and/or a big theme here is how Evelyn is having to change everything about herself to be a star. Maybe I'm just reading into things too much but from what I've heard this also seems to be a pattern for TJR?