i wanted to like this book, but it was just so hard to get through. the lack of quotation marks (which i've gathered from various comments is intentional and reflective of the miscommunication between Connell and Marianne) and the time skips really didn't do it for me. the chapters itself are narrated through time skips, which were alright but as if that wasn't enough, there were so many flashbacks in the middle of dialogues to explain something that happened earlier. as for the relationship between Connell and Marianne, for the first half of the book it was painfully repetitive. and even after all that, there was no growth in either of their characters. not that they necessarily need to have some major character development, but i feel like their characters especially Marianne, had so much unexplored depth. i have read books with flawed characters where i still root for them in the end, but for these two i can only offer apathy. that being said, i would still consider checking out other works by Rooney. preferably one with better-written characters.

i started off so skeptical towards this book (mostly bc of the overly perfect green flag male lead that is apparently loved by the entire town - literally!). but i quickly grew fond of the writing and the deeply-written characters. i was worried the conflicts at the beginning of the book would get undermined as the plot progresses - i simply loathe when a book presents very real, serious issues only for it all to be solved magically at the end. but this book saw all it all through; the conflict resolve was well executed, in a way that enriched the story even more. the characters portray such realness and wholesomeness, it was hard not to root for them all. despite occasional cringey moments, i still adored this book xx

best way to sum up White Nights would be that it's a beautiful and poetic narration on loneliness, solitude, and idealising love. i will admit that i may be slightly biased since i'm a sucker for the kind of melancholic dialogue this book is narrates in, but i simply adored the writing. definitely adding other works by Dostoevsky to my tbr.