Review of Looking Glass Friends
-
Abigail Counterman
- Minimum Wage Millionaire Reader
- Posts: 6
- Joined: 11 Apr 2023, 14:21
- Currently Reading: The Hating Game
- Bookshelf Size: 10
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-abigail-counterman.html
- Latest Review: Looking Glass Friends by E L Neve
Review of Looking Glass Friends
[Following is a volunteer review of "Looking Glass Friends" by E L Neve.]
I listened to the audiobook version of Looking Glass Friends, by E. L. Neve, read by BJ Harrison. According to the Audible summary, this book has received 15 book awards, so I will admit that I had high expectations when I started listening.
The story is about Ellie and Neil, and the relationship that they build over letters, emails, and phone calls before their bodies really meet. More broadly, it is a rumination on the nature of love, the existence of soulmates (platonic and romantic), and what happens when soulmates are already married to other people when they meet.
The author uses layered symbolism and certain motifs throughout the novel. The first one is right in the title: the looking glass. I like that the author uses “looking glass” instead of “mirror”, because it evokes not only a mirror image, but a situation in which things (or relationships) are upside down or abnormal. This glass/mirror motif evolves along with the characters and their journeys. There is also a lot of water-related imagery, which I enjoyed tracing through the story. The author cleverly set the story in famously rainy Seattle, and then used rain/ocean/shower imagery at key points in the narrative, imbuing the rain/weather with more human emotion as the story progressed.
When I finished this book, I felt like I could read it over and over again and find new possible meanings within the symbolism. I also found myself wishing that I had more of a background in poetry and philosophy, because while a lot of the poetry that the main characters quote is attributed to its author, I am quite sure that I missed a whole layer of symbolism within the specific lines of poetry they used.
The structure of the story is short chapters generally alternating between Ellie and Neil as the primary focus, but Jake and Fay, their respective spouses, also get their turns as the narrative progresses. This was perhaps the only thing that I felt could have been done better or differently, because I found myself having to focus extra hard on who the later chapters were talking about. I think that having a single person doing the voicing of an entire audiobook often works very well, but this particular alternating POV (and then 4-way alternating POV) got confusing for me. I’m not sure I would have had as much of an issue with the print version.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. There is sexual content, although not very explicit, as well as mild violence and occasional profanity. I would rate this book 4 out of 5.
******
Looking Glass Friends
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
I listened to the audiobook version of Looking Glass Friends, by E. L. Neve, read by BJ Harrison. According to the Audible summary, this book has received 15 book awards, so I will admit that I had high expectations when I started listening.
The story is about Ellie and Neil, and the relationship that they build over letters, emails, and phone calls before their bodies really meet. More broadly, it is a rumination on the nature of love, the existence of soulmates (platonic and romantic), and what happens when soulmates are already married to other people when they meet.
The author uses layered symbolism and certain motifs throughout the novel. The first one is right in the title: the looking glass. I like that the author uses “looking glass” instead of “mirror”, because it evokes not only a mirror image, but a situation in which things (or relationships) are upside down or abnormal. This glass/mirror motif evolves along with the characters and their journeys. There is also a lot of water-related imagery, which I enjoyed tracing through the story. The author cleverly set the story in famously rainy Seattle, and then used rain/ocean/shower imagery at key points in the narrative, imbuing the rain/weather with more human emotion as the story progressed.
When I finished this book, I felt like I could read it over and over again and find new possible meanings within the symbolism. I also found myself wishing that I had more of a background in poetry and philosophy, because while a lot of the poetry that the main characters quote is attributed to its author, I am quite sure that I missed a whole layer of symbolism within the specific lines of poetry they used.
The structure of the story is short chapters generally alternating between Ellie and Neil as the primary focus, but Jake and Fay, their respective spouses, also get their turns as the narrative progresses. This was perhaps the only thing that I felt could have been done better or differently, because I found myself having to focus extra hard on who the later chapters were talking about. I think that having a single person doing the voicing of an entire audiobook often works very well, but this particular alternating POV (and then 4-way alternating POV) got confusing for me. I’m not sure I would have had as much of an issue with the print version.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. There is sexual content, although not very explicit, as well as mild violence and occasional profanity. I would rate this book 4 out of 5.
******
Looking Glass Friends
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Looking Glass Friends by E L Neve
