Cover Image: Women

Women

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Member Reviews

This book had a lot of good and not-so-good parts for me. I did enjoy the exploration of bisexual and sapphic relationships and the beginning to understand oneself or at least starting to take that journey and how that can affect someone in ways that aren't always positive as they have internal and external factors that can change the way their perceive themselves, their sexuality, identity, and the relationships they are in. It was a fast-paced book that kept you engaged, but I found at some points, the fast-paced nature of it caused characters and interactions to be rushed. I was very intrigued by the character of Sabine and her relationship with our main character, but I found it to be so rushed that I didn't get to fully understand the importance of their relationship to her development. I also found that the ending was a little abrupt. However, I did find that the relationship with Finn and the ups and downs were better paced and was an interesting dynamic because it didn't shy away from showing both the toxic and very real sides of their friendship/relationship. It was a good novella, and I did enjoy it; I just wish there was more development of side characters and how they affected our main character because their intros were so powerful, but they didn't continue throughout their times in the story.

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Reading this is certainly an experience. I can't say I necessarily enjoyed it, but it fascinated me from the start. It's written as a pseudo memoir of an author who experiences a Sapphic affair with a woman. The relationship is toxic, and the ending is abrupt. I didn't hate it.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

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I personally was not a fan of the style of this book. I did not really take interest in the main character, I wish that the author would have taken more time to flesh her out as a person. I thought there were really good areas that could have benefitted from more like self-interrogation of the main character. Just off the surface level conversation regarding her sexuality and the "validity" of that as a bisexual woman or as a lesbian. She leaves these conversations half done as the FMC seems to do with most things. I completely understand that I don't need to love every main character, I frequently dislike main characters but still find the story more engaging and meaningful. In this case I didnt experience either of these things.

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i requested this at the suggestion of one of my best friends/roommates and honestly i now understand why it is their favorite book. this is a modern classic of a messy gay relationship and i was on the edge of my seat the whole time. i love the way it's written and how accessible it is and will definitely be looking into a physical copy upon release

4.5 stars

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
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This short, quick read is structured as the narrator's retrospective on her first foray into a relationship with a woman. From the beginning the reader knows with clarity that this is going to be nothing but the most extreme of toxic relationships. There is no good person in this relationship. The woman with whom the narrator becomes involved is nineteen years older and in a long term relationship. The story follows the flirting start of their relationship, the obsessive and sometimes manipulative and violent course, and the expected downfall. It is my impression that neither of these characters is meant to be likeable. They are flawed, they are struggling, they're in an affair. But their personalities and characteristics play well to the obsessive, unhealthy nature of their time together.
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The writing style and tone kept me entranced the entire time even when, on occasion, I felt the dialogue between the two main characters felt odd and a bit pretentious (think an A24 movie or a 2010 hipster). But that is how the characters are designed to be.
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Overall, I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to read an LGBTQIA cult classic.

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This novella had me hooked from the very beginning. I couldn’t put it down. It’s beautiful, intense, and heartbreaking in all the right ways and made me feel more deeply than I have for a while, despite how quick of read it is.

The narrator tells us the story of her first same-sex “relationship”. It’s intimate, and a bit of a train wreck that is more relatable than I’d like to admit. I wish I’d read “Women” when I was coming out of the closet years ago.

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Thank you to the publisher for the e arc in exchange for an honest review.
Everything is in it's context, and reading the afterward helped me put this book in it's context. The author talked about how a friend said this book was the most closeted book they'd ever read, and that the book didn't seem like it wanted to be written, and the author also didn't have a lot of queer community and knowing that context of the writing in the book helps me understand and appreciate it more.

On its own, it's difficult to know exactly what the commentary is the author is getting at. I kept wondering what the point about mental health was going to be, what the lessons were going to be with this relationship, would the girlfriend find out...though I suppose not all books need a point? However, it is hard to read about someone discovering their sexuality in this way that leaves the reader - in this case, me - thinking about how many women try to date out women like me in order to sort through their vague gay feelings. I almost DNFed because a lot of what the book was addressing didn't seem to have much redemption, and while that isn't going to happen in real life, I also find myself more judgemental of books and characters who will probably or likely end up straight after a little meeting with one lesbian. I think this could've been solved if there were more direction to some of the points in the book and threads, and again, the afterward helped me make more sense of this.

I would be curious to read anything else by this author from more recent years.

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I got the chance to read the re-release copy coming out this summer on Netgalley, having never read the original version released in 2014. After finishing the book and reading in the end notes what a cult classic this is, I’m not surprised. I’ve never read a book that was so raw and unfiltered. At times I felt taken aback by the pure view into the narrator’s mind, unabashedly honest, a guttural reaction to heartbreak. This is a novella that lets the reader sit with feelings of confusion and mania without intending to problem solve, simply to bring to light the depth of emotion that women feel. The effect is devastatingly beautiful. I wish I had read this book ten years ago, and I wish I could gift it to my younger self.

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i wanted to read this book because i (as a lesbian) wanted to read a book about lesbians. but i am also aroace, which means i have absolute zero idea if a relationship is supposed to be this complicated and messy?

i'm mostly glad it was only around 100 pages. i was hooked in the first chapter and it interested me a ton, but by the time the second chapter ended i was slowly losing interest. i was still interested enough to finish the book all the way through though! but i don't think i can quite give this 3 stars.

this book feels like the author and i are sitting in a bar on one random night chatting about our life and past. and in some parts the author even references the writing of the book and the manuscript and conversations with her editor, which is quite cool. there were a couple scenes and plot points that i thought were either odd or extremely unnecessary. i went into some detail on this on my goodreads review!

overall, it was very... fine. it didn't give me any lasting impacts, and that's alright. if you thought it was emotional and impactful and whatnot then cheers! good for you. but it was not that for me.

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This. Was. A. Beautiful. Novella. Full stop.

Topping out at just over a hundred pages, this novella packed a punch and utilized ALL of it’s small-but-mighty page space. Written in a memoir style (but listed as fiction), Women read like the not-so-distant cousin of In The Dream House. Both stories explore the gut-wrenching (and relatable) struggle of mental health, love, addiction, and the intensity of wlw relationships.

I found this novella on a whim, I am so glad I did. Women gives Michelle Tea vibes. After reading Women, Chloe Caldwell is now on the short list of my instant favorites.

This story is unrelentingly thought-provoking and heartbreaking... in the way that only an honest retelling of actual life can sometimes be.
Beautiful story. Quick read. Wonderful.

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I'm torn about a rating for this book. On the plus side, it was a quick read, and fairly interesting. At one point, I thought I'd stop reading but was surprised to learn I was more than halfway through the book.

I wasn't thrilled with the stereotypes in the book and the back and forth between the characters got old fast. The book was filled with lots of "I'm not a lesbian, but I sleep with her, I use drugs, I'm depressed and angry" vibes. If that's the direction the author wanted to take, I think it deserved a longer, much deeper dive into the story. If it was just a quick memoir of a first lesbian encounter, it probably could have been shorter.

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This novella was a quick read. I finished reading it in two days. It tells the story of an intense semi toxic relationship. I found the lead character to be interesting. She is instantly drawn to the character Finn. Finn an older woman who is already in a long term relationship is begins an affair with the main character. From the beginning it is easy to see that this will be a fling. It is a hot burning relationship that obviously will be a memory the main character will carry with her forever.

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thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc!

although this novella is receiving positive reviews and people are speaking very highly of the contents within, it truly just fell flat for me; for some reason, it did not feel as lgbt as I hoped, but other than that, it was a very quick, enjoyable read.

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not really sure why this is getting so many rave reviews. just did not work. queer stereotypes, very superficial. just really did not care about this book.

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gorgeous, erotic. a classic in the queeer world that I somehow never heard of?? signn me up. and this one was well worth the (very quick: under 100 pages) read

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A deep feelings memoir about first love with a woman. The rollercoaster of emotions was well written. It reads as the author’s self therapy to get over a toxic relationship.

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throughout the entire book, i found myself torn between giving it three stars and five stars. (so why not meet in the middle with four stars?!) initially, i questioned if the content offered anything new, but then memories of my
20-year-old self, grappling with the discovery of my attraction to women, flooded in. this book resonated deeply with the tumultuous journey of navigating some really heavy emotions while still closeted. (granted, nothing this dramatic happened to me, but everything FEELS more dramatic when you're in the closet)

as a 27-year-old happily married woman, i might not have required this book, but the 20-year-old version of me desperately did. this book has so many beautiful quotes but i think caldwell's exploration of the intricacies between women can be beautifully encapsulated in the quote "what happens between women is the most interesting thing in the world, because it is the least described.'

thank you to netgalley & harper perennial for the arc of this newest edition, in exchange for an honest review

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I have a mixed reaction about this, coming at it with no prior knowledge of the book or of its fame. Some parts were painfully relatable, and almost all of them lie in the area of self-discovery, when one comes late in life into realizations about own self and preferences. The bit that seemed overblown and alienating in its over the topness was the actual development of the love story -- normally I would just read on because not everything in the world has to be personally relatable, but the contrast between the bits that were and weren't put me off the romance. A quick and interesting read, overall.

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This book was so wonderful. Once I read it, I knew I wanted to own it and be able to read it again.The main characters are so real, even if you can't relate to everything they are going through and have experienced. It is an absolutely beautifully written story, and it was a quick read too. I would have devoured it in one sitting if I had the chance. I highly recommend others pick up this book and read it.
Thank you NetGalley for sending me an ARC of this book.

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Wow. Hadn’t heard of this before but so glad I stumbled onto this rerelease on NetGalley. Perfectly captures all-consuming young love, attraction, and obsession, I couldn’t put this novella down and read it in one night. The characters are messy and imperfect in all the ways humans tend to be and the ongoing start and stop and start again drama between the protagonist and her female lover feels maddening and real.

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