Published in: 2022
Pages: 304
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, LGBT
My rating: 0.5/5

Synopsis:

Which comes first—those you love, or those you want?

Charlie’s skin was stinging. Not with heat or sweat, but with that intense, body-defining self-consciousness—that sense of being watched. She lowered her eyes from Eleanor’s loving gaze. Her throat taut with tears, she swallowed. ‘You’re a good sister, Eleanor.’

‘Don’t say that.’

After two years of lockdowns, there’s change in the air. Eleanor has just broken up with her boyfriend, Charlie’s career as an actress is starting up again. They’re finally ready to pursue their dreams—relationships, career, family—if only they can work out what it is they really want.

When principles and desires clash, Eleanor and Charlie are forced to ask: where is the line between self-love and selfishness? In all their confusion, mistakes will be made and lies will be told as they reckon with the limits of their own self-awareness.

My review:

This was my office’s bookclub book selection for November last year. I took it on holidays with me to read, and struggled to get into it. I tried reading it again in December, struggled again. Third time’s the charm I guess, I tried again to read it in January and forced myself to finish it. I personally try not to DNF books – there would be maybe 4 books in my life I haven’t finished, and I intend to go back at some point and finish them because I ain’t no quitter.

But this book…. holy hell.

To start with, those characters. I have rarely come across a group of characters I liked less than the ones in this book. Where they purposely written to be that unlikeable, or was that just a fun coincidence? I want to punch each and every one of them in the face repeatedly. Not a single character had one redeeming quality.

These sisters, Eleanor and Charlie, are two selfish, self-absorbed, petty children. They are awful to each other, to their romantic interests, to their housemates, to their mother, basically to anyone who happens to enter their orbit. They fall in love with the same woman, they date the same man, they screw up their relationship with each other, they are just sucky people.

The thing is, I tried. 3 times I tried with this book. I wanted to like the book. I really gave it a shot, but those characters just let me down. You can’t have a halfway decent book if your characters are so unlikeable that most people can’t get past the first few pages.

And yet, I think the biggest disappointment of all, besides reading it, is that I paid $16 for it. What a waste of money. It’s since been donated to the nearest charity store. It’s lucky it didn’t end up in the bin, tbh. The hatred was real with this one.

Links: (If you want to suffer, go on and click a link)

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61084014-seeing-other-people
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/Seeing-Other-People-Diana-Reid
Booktopia: https://www.booktopia.com.au/seeing-other-people-diana-reid/book/9781761150128.html
Dymocks: https://www.dymocks.com.au/book/seeing-other-people-by-diana-reid-9781761150128