birdbones's Book Journey
i love queer people. that can be the entire review. i chose this as a plane read on an 8 hour ride, which was… an interesting choice for sure. it read like a fanfic where the author has to work a sex scene into every chapter for the sake of the… plot. i love that about casey’s writing: they fully embrace the campy, silly, hot energy of fanfic. the best part is that they also embody that fanfic can be well-written and really thoroughly researched (like damn, i really loved reading the acknowledgments about all the research that went into this!) and still embrace the campy nature of the type of story they wanted to tell. i liked that the characters knew each other, so we got to know them both through their actions and the memories they had of each other. there was a sense of familiarity about the whole thing. most of all, i loved how over the top and unrealistic it all was. i loved that it never took itself seriously. queer books don’t have to make sense! you can write something big and hopeful and a little silly. i think more (good) queer authors need to embrace the cringe. cringe is dead & this is one of the hottest books i’ve read in a while.
birdbones commented...
39w
The Pairing
Casey McQuiston
birdbones commented...
28w
returning to this after having met casey mcquiston (!!!) and heard them talk about it at bookcon (!!!!!) and reread the whole thing in a day without pausing for food or drink....
i love it even more. there's something about the sumptuousness of desire in this book, about the beautiful feast of being gay and embracing all of your identity and all of the world's pleasure and possibility. casey this weekend said being queer and trans is like a never ending "yes and", its a gluttony of adding nuance and flavor to your identity. the scene where kit is seeing them both in venus??? thats what i'm talking about. there's something about being gay and full of desire!!! i love how this book uses food as a metaphor for it and does it in such a way that by the end they mention like yogurt and you're already pavloved into being horny.
i might make olive focaccia for a date with the love of my life this weekend as tribute.
i love queer people. that can be the entire review. i chose this as a plane read on an 8 hour ride, which was… an interesting choice for sure. it read like a fanfic where the author has to work a sex scene into every chapter for the sake of the… plot. i love that about casey’s writing: they fully embrace the campy, silly, hot energy of fanfic. the best part is that they also embody that fanfic can be well-written and really thoroughly researched (like damn, i really loved reading the acknowledgments about all the research that went into this!) and still embrace the campy nature of the type of story they wanted to tell. i liked that the characters knew each other, so we got to know them both through their actions and the memories they had of each other. there was a sense of familiarity about the whole thing. most of all, i loved how over the top and unrealistic it all was. i loved that it never took itself seriously. queer books don’t have to make sense! you can write something big and hopeful and a little silly. i think more (good) queer authors need to embrace the cringe. cringe is dead & this is one of the hottest books i’ve read in a while.
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birdbones commented...
40w
im glad!!! it certainly was that for me :) i hope you enjoy! please feel free to share your thoughts when you finish :)