I really enjoyed this read! It’s more of a slice-of-life romance(?) type book than I usually go for, but I was intrigued by how it would handle the topic of Jude’s depression in particular as someone who has been diagnosed with major depressive disorder myself.
Interestingly, although sometimes Jude’s internal monologue felt like a drag, it didn’t actually bother me because that too felt realistic? Which depressed bitches among us haven’t gotten into a downward spiral and then though “man, even I think I’m a slog right now.” I also enjoyed that it wasn’t a case of magical healing dick or that Jude’s depression was fixed by getting a new boyfriend. It was very clearly an up-and-down where sometimes he seemed to be doing okay and then something could kick his feet out from under him in the next chapter. By the end of the book I did sense a difference and a general upward trajectory but that had less to do with Faron himself and more to do with just having support and understanding while Jude gets himself back on track, I guess.
The one thing I wish there had been a little more of was exploration of Faron’s feelings toward Jude. Of course it’s a limited perspective book, but it would have been nice to get a little of what Faron was thinking through some of the events of this novel, as well as just understanding more of what attracted Faron to Jude in the first place.
I also like that it’s noted in the text that there’s sort of an inherent power dynamic between Faron as a Black man and Jude as a white man, but I do wish that thought had been explored with a little more depth, I guess. I kind of feel like it came up a couple times but there wasn’t really much in the plot that demonstrated it out in the real-world day to day, if that makes sense.
But still, I liked the writing and enjoyed the story so four stars from me!