As someone who tends not to gravitate toward coming-of-age stories, it took me awhile to get into Like Happiness - it was just so focused on Tatum's college experience at the beginning.
I stuck with it, and ultimately found it to be pretty well done. I couldn't help but wonder whether the narrative was inspired by Junot Diaz.
More than anything, this felt like a story about grooming and misogyny (and a bit on growing up, sexuality, and Latinx identity). I'd put Like Happiness in conversation with My Dark Vanessa, Notes on a Silencing, and even, I think, Jaded (which I happened to be reading at the same time).
I didn't particularly care for or dislike the narration by Marisa Blake. Sometimes her narration felt one-note, but I wondered if that was intentional (i.e., Tatum reading the letter she was writing, not letting emotion slip in).
I stuck with it, and ultimately found it to be pretty well done. I couldn't help but wonder whether the narrative was inspired by Junot Diaz.
More than anything, this felt like a story about grooming and misogyny (and a bit on growing up, sexuality, and Latinx identity). I'd put Like Happiness in conversation with My Dark Vanessa, Notes on a Silencing, and even, I think, Jaded (which I happened to be reading at the same time).
I didn't particularly care for or dislike the narration by Marisa Blake. Sometimes her narration felt one-note, but I wondered if that was intentional (i.e., Tatum reading the letter she was writing, not letting emotion slip in).