Review #582

Great Big Beautiful Life was much different than I expected. This should’ve been marketed as a women’s lit or literary fiction with a different type of cover. It was unlike her other books and not a typical romcom style. 

I listened to it on audio and the (solo) narrator was great. 

“It’s permanence. Bringing something intangible into the world that can live on without you. Something bigger than the person who made it. And even then the goal is secondary to the process. The process is for us. It changes us in ways that can’t be measured.”

My favorite part was the sisterhood theme

I had some qualms which is why I rated it a 4.2/5 for me. I believe this is the lowest I’ve rated an Emily Henry book. If it were marketed more appropriately so I had better expectations I probably would’ve rated it higher.

First issue though- Hayden had zero personality. He was boring, flat & a bit blah. 

Second big one- I had no emotional investment in “The Story” parts (which were huge chunks) until the 75% mark which means all the earlier stuff felt boring, tedious & unnecessary. 

I liked how Alice’s relationship with her mom was also worked full circle. She was a great character and I rooted for her the whole time. I could easily see this as a movie, with young actors playing the parts of Margaret & Cosmo as flashbacks instead of sitting there listening to her story as a regretful geriatric woman.