"I finally caved. I read the book that everyone has been reading, the book that is responsible for some of the most devastatingly Tumblr-esque quotes to have made their way through my internet experience in the last few years. I guess, like Fleabag, I had put this in a category of things that would either devastate me or not live up to the romance I had created for them in my head.

I can't tell if I loved it or hated it, but I think I spent most of the book just angry at Connell and Marianne. I think in the midst of the complications of my 20s and thinking through what love is, what love is supposed to be, it is so infuriating to see 2 people have the answer, to love one another so absolutely, and still not be able to get it right. Maybe I'm too happy at this moment to truly understand what Rooney was going for, perhaps if I was just off some heartbreaking breakup or in the middle of some awful pining for someone, then I would really know what it is to understand these two characters, to empathize with this love and care they have for each other and yet the awful ways that they seem to harm each other. I like to hope for all of the people that I love--romantically, platonically, familially--I will never harm them in the way that these two seemed to harm one another intrinsically.

For all that I despised about this book, for all that I do not understand about these two characters, I do think it was a beautiful story, and I enjoyed reading it. "

"Such a cool way to write history. I especially loved the final chapter and the epilogue. "