Contemporary fiction. Picked it up because I saw a few bookish people online speak well of it and I thought it might be a pleasant diversion, even if it’s a bit outside my usual range, and it mostly was. The story was pretty predictable but engagingly told. The writing did once in awhile go for what I think was maybe meant to be quirky while conveying intensity or qualitative essence, in a way that just didn’t land and felt mildly awkward. Mostly, though, the writing was smooth and effective. The best part of the book, I think, was the characters. I particularly appreciated the portrayal of the titular Chloe’s chronic illness and chronic pain, and the ways that they had shaped her life. I also appreciated the portrayal of her newfound beau as, yes, damaged and flawed, but fundamentally decent and genuinely working on it, with a sort of white, hetero, working-class, non-toxic masculinity that should be unremarkable in our media but that is, in fact, rare enough to deserve remark. Anyway, not sure I found it quite as effective an escape as I’d hoped, but it’s also entirely possible that I might at some point obtain the newly released sequel about Chloe’s queer academic leftist sister Dani.
Originally posted by Scott on Goodreads.