Kejtie
18 Feb 2024 00:00
Kejtie's review of Love Theoretically
A weak execution of a pretty big issue.
People-pleasing is a disease that is common in most of the population. Mostly, it comes from dysfunctional families, where the people-pleaser plays a role as the mediator. I saw what Hazelwood wanted to do with this issue; I saw how much she wanted to point out how painful it is when you lose the real you among so many yous you give it. It is painful. More painful is the fact when other people call you out on it. And then you want to please them by being different. It's a never-ending circle, really. One you can tear if you are persistent enough.
Back to the book.
I could not connect with the main character. I couldn't even connect with her nemesis - turned - love interest.
The whole story was clinical, to the point where it was really painful to read. Hazelwood was writing about these intense emotions they both felt and saw in each other's eyes. But it read like a doctor would read a report about a person having a heart attack: clinical and without real emotion.
Also, I could not, for the life of me, understand this weird obsession everybody had with Elsie. The moment they got to know her - boom, instant love for her. Why? I don't understand. Because her inner monologues were so out of depth, again - clinical, and her struggling to vocally express herself did not do her any favors.
I say again, a weak execution with good intentions.
People-pleasing is a disease that is common in most of the population. Mostly, it comes from dysfunctional families, where the people-pleaser plays a role as the mediator. I saw what Hazelwood wanted to do with this issue; I saw how much she wanted to point out how painful it is when you lose the real you among so many yous you give it. It is painful. More painful is the fact when other people call you out on it. And then you want to please them by being different. It's a never-ending circle, really. One you can tear if you are persistent enough.
Back to the book.
I could not connect with the main character. I couldn't even connect with her nemesis - turned - love interest.
The whole story was clinical, to the point where it was really painful to read. Hazelwood was writing about these intense emotions they both felt and saw in each other's eyes. But it read like a doctor would read a report about a person having a heart attack: clinical and without real emotion.
Also, I could not, for the life of me, understand this weird obsession everybody had with Elsie. The moment they got to know her - boom, instant love for her. Why? I don't understand. Because her inner monologues were so out of depth, again - clinical, and her struggling to vocally express herself did not do her any favors.
I say again, a weak execution with good intentions.
