DNF

At first, I thought I would like Night Shift. The story between Meggie and Sabine starts off strong in a way I think many young women can empathize with—trying to impress your impossibly cool coworker/acquaintance and convince them to be your friend. During times like this, there is admittedly a weird sense of heightened self-awareness where you go above and beyond to stand out to them and feel a tinge of jealousy when others are able to stand out more than you.

But boy, did Night Shift quickly take a turn for the worse. The plot transitioned into something pointless, and ultimately, completely plotless.

Meggie becoming more and more obsessed with Sabine and reckless for no logical reason was frustrating. Sabine popping in and out of the picture purely to antagonize Meggie, play on her obsession, and lead her on when the relationship evolves was increasingly frequent and annoying. Maybe it worked the first few times or so, but the more it took place, the more over it and exasperated I became.

This is a book with truly no plot, just vibes (bad ones). And its use of trauma and detailed SA was so unnecessarily gratuitous and revolting, I couldn’t help but be so insanely disgusted. There was literally no rhyme or reason for it. It literally felt like it was added for shock value to show how far “gone” Meggie had become. Bleh.

The best way I can describe Night Shift is that it’s basically just a really, really, REALLY gratuitously vile 500 Days of Summer.

i was ready for this to be over by chapter 2 but it was a short read so i went for it. very blasé.

I don’t think I liked that

2.5

Great book, I enjoyed the characters. I was afraid for a bit that Sabine might have been writen too much as a manic pixie dreamgirl, but the story steered away in just the right moment.
I would have maybe enjoyed a less “pretty” ending, but overal liked the story

Hmmm, I feel stuck on how to review Nightshift. On one hand, it's alluring. It pulls you in with its strangeness and unreliability. On the other, it's too provocative. The plot is transgressive. The narrator, Meggie, is frustrating and gullible. But she doesn't deserve the things that happen to her. Sabine is like a siren, magnetic yet strange with her existence. The two of them push and pull at each other so chaotically, the reader has to wonder when it will come crashing down.

I question the author's use of queerness as a thing to be performed or studied. It felt like Meggie had a psychological fascination with her own queer experiences that did not extend far beyond Sabine, and Meggie is clearly creating false ideas of queerness within herself to justify her interest. As a queer person, I became slightly uncomfortable with the character's choice to dive deeper into queerness instead of uncovering the real reason for her obsession, whether that was mental illness or something else. I think the story could've been better had Meggie become more invested in understanding the chaos happening in her mind that's leading her to make so many bad choices.

Overall, 2.5 stars.

The story of an obsession; a rather quick read. It didn’t truly pull me in and the story snd characters never felt quite believable. But it was an interesting glimpse into a different style of life.