"I loved this book. Having lived in Germany and NYC, it resonated with me. It's a lovely story, poignant and humorous at times. I loved the descriptions of Berlin, they were very evocative.
I listened to the audiobook and loved the choices the voice artist made. The characters were distinct and engaging. I'll be looking out for Eric Schnall's next book!"

"Wasnt expecting to love this book as much as I did.
I didnt want it to end but it also ended like so perfectly. Such a simple story but told so well. Now i need to go to Berlin. "

"Who decides what we can be?

Who decides what we can write about?

This is a novel written by a gay man about a woman (Mallory) who pretends to befriend a young gay man (Leo), addicted to drugs, in order to write his story that might revitalize her dying career. But "pretending" is a word that tells only half the story. Mallory and Leo are pretending so much that sometimes they lie not only to others, but to themselves. They aren't happy. People see Mallory as a modern Clarissa Dalloway, but she feels more like Virginia Woolf trapped in a Sleeping with the Enemy marriage, always forced to smile and do (and write) what others want. Leo is homeless, a thief, a sex worker, a poet, a liar so accustomed to selling his dramatic life story to benefactors that he can't even realize he's in an A Little Life situation.

The beauty of this disturbingly crazy, fun, hopeful novel is that it understands a great story between two complex characters like these can't be stopped by the pretending. We do that in real life too, and we still find a way to each other when we are soulmates. And these two are soulmates. They need each other to survive, to escape, and to become who they want to be.

One of the most powerful scenes in the book is Leo's reaction when he finds out the horrible ending the publisher wants for the character inspired by him. It reminds us how important it is to see ourselves succeed, even if only in books or films. It gives hope, and we need that, but this book is more than a critique of the publishing world.

This book is an act of rebellion. It understands the power of representation, but it wants to remind us that we can be who we want to be, no matter what others think we should be. It is offensively funny, disturbingly funny, too real to be able to laugh, and so tense in the second half that it gave me anxiety. The finale was so strange, because we get an amazing ending and then something feels off, but maybe not. This is book of the year material for me"

"so I guess I need to go to berlin and go inside the homes of at least three locals x"