There's a true aimlessness held in both of these characters. Plot: 4 This is true literary fiction 'no plot, just vibes.' This title is often compared to My Year of Rest and Relaxation, and I can promise you that there's much more plot here than in that book, but the comparison also makes sense. It's hard to tell what attributes are coming from Gala's personality and what's simply a projection from Isa. Their friendship story unfolds with them appearing to be very close when they arrive together but eventually have increasing tension that threatens to break the bond. They're just set decorations for Isa's story.

Understanding anyone else in the novel isn't the point. There is quite a large cast of people that Isa knows that come in and out of her life throughout the summer, but I would often forget who they were seeing names that looked familiar but be unable to trace them back to which character portrait they were tied to. None of the other characters are particularly memorable. We see moments where this clearly isn't true, but this story is far from confessional. Even though this is meant to be a personal account, Isa holds herself at a distance from the reader and tries to give herself the appearance of someone intellectually superior and that she's this rouge who makes her way through the world with little affecting her. It's hard to get under Isa's skin or inside her mind because, as we later find out, Isa has published the book we're reading straight from her diary.

Overall: 3.5Ĭharacters: 3 The book is narrated from Isa's point of view with Gala as her coconspirator for most of the novel. The girls spend the summer trying to scrape by, making enough money under the table to pay rent and stay afloat in an unrelenting yet utterly glamorized city. They do have a room they're subletting that they hardly have the funds to pay for, and Isa has a network throughout the city of people she's met on her travels and from her time living in London.

Overview: Gala and Isa show up in New York City without a single plan.

Happy hour by marlowe granados