Book Review: ‘Alone with You in the Ether’, a Beautifully Complex Read
It’s been almost a week since I’ve finished Alone with You in the Ether by Olivie Blake, and I’m still processing my feelings on it. It’s not a romance in the traditional sense. Rather I’d say this is literary fiction about love and connection. I’m so happy I have this original self published version—it’s so beautifully simple juxtaposed with the complexities this novel tackles. Blake does not shy away from showing the struggle with mental illness, perhaps because she has also publicly shared her struggles with being Bi-polar. Knowing this makes me love this book even more.
Things to Know:
It’s a standalone
Both MCs have mood/mental disorders
Adult themes
Regan and Aldo are two troubled souls who happen to meet at an Art Museum and agree to six conversations. Because…bees. This will all make sense later. I absolutely love Olivie Blake’s writing. It’s beautiful, poetic, and chaotic throughout—much reflective of her characters. Now some people will say her writing is pretentious and you need a PhD to understand, but if you truly look at this novel as a work of literary fiction and deep character study, you’ll find its secrets open up to you.
“Either it was everything to know the whole story, to look back and see the shape of it while standing along its periphery; or it was nothing, because things in their entirety were less fragile and therefore less beautiful than the pieces within the frame.”
I absolutely loved the beginning of this book, and the initial six conversations. They were like little vignettes. As the novel progressed, and manic episodes ensue, we see the chaotic energy of the characters reflected in the writing. It’s not that I liked it less, it was just different.
“If this is what it is to burn, he thought, then I will be worth more as scattered ash than any of my unscathed pieces.”
Is it my favorite book ever? No. But is it worth the read if you like character focused stories and quandaries about the human condition? 100% yes. In fact, a lot of us might just see ourselves in this quote:
“Sometimes I feel like I’m just waiting for something that will never happen,” he said. “Like I’m just existing from day to day but will never really matter. I get up in the morning because I have to, because I have to do something or I’m just wasting space, or because if I don’t answer the phone, my dad will be alone. Bit it’s an effort, it takes work. I have to tell myself, every day, get up. Get up, do this, move like this, talk to people, be normal, try to be social, be nice, be patient. On the inside I just feel like, I don’t know, nothing. Like I’m just an algorithm that someone put in place.”
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