This is a mediocre crime story, as well as a story of how racism impacts black communities and people in America. It might be a good resource for people new to the subject, but if you already know a decent amount, it’s very boring to be led through long explanations and descriptions of how racism is the cause of something, when you’ve already made that connection right from the start. The book did a good job of portraying the topic, it just was on a more beginner level, if you know what I mean.

The crime story itself is sort of meh. Including things like “police don’t investigate missing persons until it’s been 48 hours”, which we all know is such bullshit, and is a dangerous myth to keep putting out there.

The writing is a bit clunky. Saying things like “The city is comprised of neighborhoods and streets.”. … yeah, you don’t say. The choice or words were also a bit weird. Example: “I was ecstatic when I saw who called. ‘Hey, what’s up?’, I said.” That doesn’t sound ecstatic at all actually.

I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator was fine, with the exception of pronouncing “homogeneous” as homo-genius.

This is not a book for every reader, but it is exactly the book for me. There is something about seeing complex, flawed, and at times downright unlikable characters find love and redemption. If people like Ivan and Peter with all their complexities can lead meaningful lives full of love, then so too can I. There's something hopeful in that. I feel seen and I feel redeemable with all of my own complexities.

In classic Sally Rooney fashion, you will feel like you could finish the main characters' sentences by the end from how well you know them. Outlining the plot, however, might be difficult without a second read; it's less sequential than it is studying the various details of a photo so you can really understand the larger picture. As a huge fan of character studies, this hit for me. For those who want drama or big reveals, this is not the book for you. However, those who want to explore the complexities of relationships and grief, this may interest you.

Maybe I’ve been reading too much gothic fiction lately but I was a bit bored

Not my favorite of Melissa Broder’s work. I usually love a book with no-plot-just-vibes, but this one just didn’t hit like I expected. Her writing is incredible: blunt, brutally honest, funny, and poignant all the same. I just didn’t love the thread about how hard it is for her to have a chronically ill husband (admittedly, it is hard, she understands this, she knows his burden having the illness is heavier,) but still I’m not particularly interested in the caregiver perspective vs. the disabled perspective at this point in time.

That being said — I have always LOVED Broder’s 2016 essay “Thoughts On Open Marriage and Illness: ON BEING IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH ILLNESS,” which details the challenges her and her husband have faced as an interabled couple and how they cope and keep their marriage and love strong. Love and marriage don’t need to take one specific form; I find it beautiful the creative ways they’ve built their life around her husband’s disability. It’s an essay I frequently revisit when thinking about my own relationships, how I’ve had an open relationship proposed in the context of disability, how I want to be loved in the future. Very much so reminds me of the resolution to Intermezzo by Sally Rooney.