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Ola's Reviews > Katerina
Katerina
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**Update: I predicted correctly! Katerina did win the Bad Sex in Fiction award for 2018. Congratulations!
Katerina is a pretty terrible novel that reads like a teenager's bad fan fiction. The main character Jay, who is largely based on James Frey, is unlikable as all Jay seems to do is sleep, get drunk, throw up, have sex, and do coke over and over again. Oh, and he's extremely conceited so the reader gets to hear about all his arrogant opinions on Paris, literature, people, and art. Despite being a complete mess, Jay falls in love with model Katerina, who is similarly as unlikable. They have a strange relationship while the reader endures several gross pornographic sex scenes. I'm not a prude but these moments were so awkwardly written that I believe that Literary Review's Bad Sex in Fiction Award may be due for Mr. Frey. This is such a shallow, awkward, and unlikeable book and I don't believe it would've been published if not for Frey's notoriety. Not to say that there aren't some (very rare) moments where the book says something mildly interesting. Frey's writing style is original and easy to read, his poem on being young in the middle of the book is a highlight, and when "Jay" discusses the fallout from the A Million Little Pieces controversy the book seems the least contrived. Unfortunately, these moments are few and far between so I wouldn't say that this book is worth reading.
(**I received a free copy of this book from Scout Press in exchange for an honest review.)
Original review: August 14, 2018
Katerina is a pretty terrible novel that reads like a teenager's bad fan fiction. The main character Jay, who is largely based on James Frey, is unlikable as all Jay seems to do is sleep, get drunk, throw up, have sex, and do coke over and over again. Oh, and he's extremely conceited so the reader gets to hear about all his arrogant opinions on Paris, literature, people, and art. Despite being a complete mess, Jay falls in love with model Katerina, who is similarly as unlikable. They have a strange relationship while the reader endures several gross pornographic sex scenes. I'm not a prude but these moments were so awkwardly written that I believe that Literary Review's Bad Sex in Fiction Award may be due for Mr. Frey. This is such a shallow, awkward, and unlikeable book and I don't believe it would've been published if not for Frey's notoriety. Not to say that there aren't some (very rare) moments where the book says something mildly interesting. Frey's writing style is original and easy to read, his poem on being young in the middle of the book is a highlight, and when "Jay" discusses the fallout from the A Million Little Pieces controversy the book seems the least contrived. Unfortunately, these moments are few and far between so I wouldn't say that this book is worth reading.
(**I received a free copy of this book from Scout Press in exchange for an honest review.)
Original review: August 14, 2018
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Karen
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Sep 04, 2018 08:25PM
Thank you. I somehow figured it would be like that.
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I agree completely. However, I didn't get to the part about the MLP fallout. I had to give up when he started making out with the guys in the club. I was over it by then with his narcissism and bashing of everyone and everything (except for what he thought worthy of his tastes). But yes, the poem about being young was beautiful.
Courtney wrote: "I agree completely. However, I didn't get to the part about the MLP fallout. I had to give up when he started making out with the guys in the club. I was over it by then with his narcissism and bas..."Thanks for your comment, Courtney. I wish I had stopped reading when you did. You're right, the narcissism was too much to handle. I don't know why the publishers, agents, editors, anyone didn't curb the conceit a little. Or maybe they did? (which is horrifying).
