A Reality Check That Left Me Feeling Bittersweet

I tore through this book in e-book format, and it was a wild ride I didn't want to share with anyone. Reading about emotions just isn't as trendy as it used to be, but I kept going because it was a continuation of the previous part, and I didn't want to leave it unfinished. The writing was beautiful, romantic, like reading a vibrant personal diary.

The main idea is that in the first part, Katya Kito loses her close friend Egor in a fight, and she struggles to cope. She ends up in the hospital, and then her goth friend Rita helps her get out of depression. In the second part, they live together at Rita's place, Kiti gets a job at a tattoo parlor, but she still can't shake off her past 'emo world' she created in her dreams. She keeps seeing Egor in her dreams and suffering from her love. Meanwhile, she makes others suffer too, as real people fall in love with her as the story unfolds.

For me, the second part felt like a messy web of broken relationships: Kiti needs to get over her pointless suffering over deceased Egor, find a new love in reality, so the 'Emo World' apocalypse doesn't happen. Yeah, it's a weird idea, considering we don't even know if this 'Emo World' from her fantasies still exists. Why does someone decide for Katya when she hasn't even met that person yet?

Kiti rejects Rita's love, but lives with her out of convenience and habit. The logic is completely missing here, it seems to me, for both girls.

Then, one of her coworkers at the tattoo parlor falls in love with her and confesses his feelings. Later, Kiti meets a mysterious guy on the rooftop of some house and apparently falls in love with him. But further on, it seems like this guy was just her vision, some kind of spirit from the world of fantasies. There's no real foundation for this new feeling, in my opinion.

The author takes a bold approach to show how, in real life, dreams actually get crushed. But he maybe overdid it, as he 'throws us to the ground' with any pleasant and romantic dreams. This also shows in the middle of the book when Kiti decides on a traumatic, extreme 'hanging' (a sort of entertaining activity, somewhat like skydiving, but with different equipment and a lower height). You could say that in this second part, there's more extreme and weird stuff than in the first.

While the writing style is light and engaging, the story felt a bit negative to me. I think this is because the author wanted to convey the pain and struggle of losing someone you love, and the difficulty of moving on. But at times, it felt like the story was trying too hard to be edgy and provocative, rather than genuinely exploring the emotions of the characters.

I ended up enjoying the book, despite its flaws. It's a thought-provoking and emotionally charged read, but it's not without its issues. If you're a fan of emotional and psychological drama, you might enjoy this book. But if you're looking for a light and easy read, you might want to look elsewhere.

Pros: Engaging writing style, thought-provoking themes, emotionally charged. Cons: Negative tone, some characters' motivations feel unclear, excessive use of extreme and weird elements.