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Saturday, 8 August 2020

Girl, Unframed by Deb Caletti

Sydney Reilly has a bad feeling about going home to San Francisco before she even gets on the plane. How could she not? Her mother is Lila Shore—the Lila Shore—a film star who prizes her beauty and male attention above all else…certainly above her daughter.

But Sydney’s worries multiply when she discovers that Lila is involved with the dangerous Jake, an art dealer with shady connections. Jake loves all beautiful objects, and Syndey can feel his eyes on her whenever he’s around. And he’s not the only one. Sydney is starting to attract attention—good and bad—wherever she goes: from sweet, handsome Nicco Ricci, from the unsettling construction worker next door, and even from Lila. Behaviors that once seemed like misunderstandings begin to feel like threats as the summer grows longer and hotter.

It’s unnerving, how beauty is complicated, and objects have histories, and you can be looked at without ever being seen. But real danger, crimes of passion, the kind of stuff where someone gets killed—it only mostly happens in the movies, Sydney is sure. Until the night something life-changing happens on the stairs that lead to the beach. A thrilling night that goes suddenly very wrong. When loyalties are called into question. And when Sydney learns a terrible truth: beautiful objects can break.




This was interesting, but not amazing. I didn't feel connected to the main character; I felt like we got a lot of her backstory in infodumps rather than getting it naturally as the story unfolded. I found myself skimming bits of it, losing attention and putting it down to walk away and do something else.

I did like the twist at the end, and the grandmother, the only character I really liked. This isn't awful, I'll recommend it to people. I just wasn't amazed by it, and I was really hoping to be. It's such an important topic and we need to talk about it more.

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