laurreads's reviews
186 reviews

This book was so cute. I cannot think of a better word.

The cover of "Cerulean" sort of took over my thoughts after I saw it for the first time in Barnes & Noble. I was there to pick up other books, but I was enchanted. I didn't get it that day, and I regretted it. The next time I went to B&N, I saw it again. That cute little house perched on the edge of a cliff with a cute red van out front. It was dreamy. So dreamy, in fact, that I completely neglected the review stating it's like "a big gay blanket," something that would have immediately drawn me in otherwise. I'm not usually one to read the reviews before reading the book, so the cover alone was enough to draw me in.

I immediately enjoyed this book, but I started loving it when I met Chauncey for the first time. Obviously, no spoilers, but I was besotted. I tweeted a single thing upon meeting him: Wes Anderson needs to make a movie adaptation for "Cerulean."

Magic, love, hope, wisdom, mystery... they are all abound in this novel, and reading it was an absolute delight. If my love of reading was not already rekindled this year, this book would have been the one to do it. I am going to read every single thing T.J. Klune has written and will write. Forever.

This book made me cry at work. It made me laugh more times than I can count. It made me smile, and it made me ache. My queer heart is so filled with joy. So often, queer media is devastating. Characters are killed, rejected, bullied, hated, and used. T.J. Klune wrote a beautiful novel and, in doing so, gave us queer victory. If you are a queer person, this book will give you a moment of peace. Savor it. I'll read it again soon, I'm sure, because it is so delightful, if not to just have that little bit of peace once more.

i listened to the audiobook of this, and it was so beautiful. i know everyone recommends it, but each time i thought about getting it, i got decision-paralysis. starting a new book that’s kind of long is always really anxiety-inducing for me. the audiobook ended up being perfect for me for this one. i sobbed on my walk back to my car from work as i finished it. it was so beautiful. absolutely incredible.

this book didn’t do it for me. i feel like it went nowhere and nothing happened. i think i feel this way because of things that have happened in my own life and in my family. none of these things are novel if your family came from miserable circumstances. i am more like lucy’s daughters, in that i’m lucky enough to be two generations removed from the most traumatic family experiences, but my mom is sort of like lucy, in what she grew up with. i know lucy is human. we are supposed to understand that she has phrases she uses a lot, but i just didn’t love some of her dialogue. kind of boring and uninspired. i don’t know why it won a pulitzer prize.

Beautiful. Frustrating. Shocking.

i am just not going to read any other novels by sayaka murata. i really wanted to like her. i wanted to understand why everyone likes her so much and be part of that club. i cannot convince myself to like her characters. her writing is great! her female characters in the two i’ve read- earthlings and CVW- are practically the same and they both make me uncomfortable in the same way. they are not “different” in fun ways, rather they’re homicidal, antisocial, and crude. i really REALLY wanted to like her work. i respect her as an author, but i cannot continue reading her work. i am not her target audience, and that is okay.