Name: armoni mayes's review of A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp
Item: A Very Nice Girl
Rating: 4
Author: armoni mayes

Imogen Crimp

"A razor-sharp debut novel about an ambitious young opera singer caught between devotion to her craft and an all-consuming affair with an older man"--

A Novel

A Very Nice Girl

Beatriz Salvador 

And maybe tonight is enough, after all, because I like to be free. I like to wake up in the night alone, to open the window and feel the air on my face and not to worry about disturbing him, to turn on the light if I can't sleep, read my book, watch TV, lie awake and have no one ask me what I'm thinking. The days that are mine and no one else's. Not worrying about another person and what they want. Not muting my colour to match someone else's. No one there in the morning to know what I look like when I sleep, un-made-up and unguarded.

'Tender, devastating, witty. And deeply true. Sweetbitter meets Normal People' MEG MASON, author of SORROW AND BLISS _____________________________________________________________________________ A bitingly honest, darkly funny debut about love, sex, power and desire, by a major new British talent Anna is struggling to afford life in London as she trains to be a singer. During the day, she vies to succeed against her course mates with their discreet but inexhaustible streams of cultural capital and money, and in the evening she sings jazz at a bar in the City to make ends meet. It's there that she meets Max, a financier fourteen years older than her. Over the course of one winter, Anna's intoxication oscillates between her hard-won moments on stage, where she can zip herself into the skin of her characters, and nights spent with Max in his glass-walled flat overlooking the city. But Anna's fledgling career demands her undivided attention, and increasingly – whether he necessarily wills it or not – so does Max... _____________________________________________________________________________ 'Touching on feminism, power, finances and the pleasures and dangers of a new relationship, this book is an assured debut' CLAIRE FULLER, author of the Women's Prize-shortlisted UNSETTLED GROUND 'Imogen Crimp captures the glittering thrill of being young and choosing your own life with a dark, unflinching undercurrent of desire, power and control' JESSICA ANDREWS, author of SALTWATER 'A blazing, darkly funny debut that captures a young woman's search to find herself ... It has an honesty and tenderness that will stay with me for a long time' RACHEL JOYCE

Helen Borham

Monicap

armoni mayes

okay the update that no one asked for! 

4.5 stars, would’ve been 5 stars but I did not care for the ending. I enjoyed this book, the plot, and most of the characters, excluding Laurie. Laurie bothered me so much because the author fell into the trope of writing Anna’s best friend as the “wild-crazy-feminist-doesn’t give a shit” attitude that you always see in books like this. Anna however was very likable and relatable and i felt like we could’ve been friends in real life haha. This book is more of a 20 something year old finding their place in the world than a romance/toxic relationship because honestly I did not think max was that bad. This may be because i just read Acts of Desperation and nobody could be worse than the boyfriend in that book.

Anna, I was rooting for you and I still am but may I suggest…therapy instead of going back to the sad lonely man who is 20 years older than you. Please. You have so much life and fun to live through you don’t need to waste it caring for that man. 

daniela

I lovedddd this book but was kinda sad with the ending

Allie Serrano

abi a

Crimp Imogen Crimp

leila guerin

** spoiler alert **
           0.5-1.5 stars (i’m honestly not sure what to rate this) / 

what can i even say about this book? where do i even start? i really did not enjoy this book. 

with every page i read i just continued to ask myself why i was still reading it. i honestly could’ve and maybe should’ve stopped after the first chapter. i don’t know how i made it the whole way through. it was definitely a struggle. i wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt and see if it got any better but it was just chapter after chapter of being underwhelmed and disappointed. 

the protagonist, anna, is so unlikable (well in my opinion). she is an opera singer who ends up landing this big role that she claims is usually hard to get, but then becomes ungrateful about this opportunity, skipping rehearsals, lying to people and sulking about who knows what. she is downright annoying and dull and i could hardly stand her. 

she is reliant on this guy for his money which she claims she will pay him back for (she does in the end, but still) but then continues to complain about her miserable life and failing career to him and getting mad and annoyed at him when he questions her about if this career is something she should continue to peruse if she dislikes it so much. and then she gets mad at him for manipulating her or shutting her out (ie not telling her everything about his life, which i understand, creepy) when she is simply just unaware of the toxic relationship she has gotten herself into. she keeps going back to him even though she knows deep down that he is no good and not worth her time, but she is so hooked on the money and being validated or appreciated (idk) by him to see this. the only tiny reason why i wanted to see the book out and not give up reading it was to see if she got what she deserved (which i guess she kind of did). 

she complains so much about having no money for anything… but like what do you expect?! girl, you’re a studying student ofc you’re gonna have like no money. maybe if you actually tried to pull down a real part time job instead of just occasionally singing at a bar (like twice a week, barely anything) or pub or whatever every now and then you’d actually be able to support yourself a little better and wouldn’t be sleeping in some crotchety old couples house or having to sleep in the same bed as your friend in a cramped house. 

what i hate most about this book is that it is written in first person. there is no way of escaping how boring and miserable the main character is, and you read page on page about pretty much nothing. there are just words on words which just drags on and on. it would have been nice if it was written from third person or if other perspectives were added now and then to at least give some temporary relief from her continuous whining and her lowkey boring life. seriously there was no escaping her. it was like she wanted the reader to feel sympathetic for her but it just made me dislike her even more. 

in the first person perspective, it also seemed like there was more telling than actual “showing”. like it all seemed like a recount - “he said”, “she said”. like girl i don’t want a run down on what went down i want to experience it in the present moment. it was all so monotone and boring like she didn’t even try and make her life seem remotely interesting (even though it definitely is not).

the book was so repetitive. wake up, go to singing lesson or audition or rehearsal (or not, cos she got lazy), go to dinner or over to max’s flat, make out, lowkey get into an argument, apologise then spend the night. like this book explained/detailed this daily schedule in about 500 different ways that did not make the scenario any more new or exciting each time it happened. 

also, is the book’s title supposed to be sarcastic or something because, in my opinion, she was barely “a very nice girl”. she took the shit out people even when they barely did anything wrong but couldn’t take it when they said hardly nasty things back. especially in the production, she was so unprofessional, coming late or missing rehearsals, half arsing the practices, walking out when things got too tough for her to handle. for a 24/25 year old i would’ve expected her to be a little more mature and i was shocked by the way she acted some of the time. 

the book also at the start felt like it was jumping around. one minute I’d be reading about her growing relationship with max, the next I’d be reading 30 pages or something on her daily life getting opera lessons and singing. i did not feel like the start flowed particularly well and it made me feel not very invested in her character. there was so much going on - her relationship with max, her relationship with laurie, her failing singing career, her strained relationship with her parents, her friendship or whatever with her childhood best friend and so on. like girl, why do you have so many problems and things going in in your life with literally everyone and why do we need to hear about them all in this one book. like every page was just more on more on why her life apparently sucks. 

if there’s anything the author did right, whether it was intentional or not, it was making me highly dislike the main character. i guess she redeemed herself slightly in my eyes at the end (barely though) but still one of my least favourite characters of all time. 

i think the cover of the book is a very good representation of it. quite boring. they say “don’t judge a book by its cover” but in this instance, please do. this book was overly long with too many irrelevant words that in the end made me wanna cry because i spent the whole day reading this for no reason (when i knew i should’ve stopped as soon as i started) instead of catching up on my holiday homework. i would not recommend this book to anyone unless you want to feel as miserable and unfulfilled as the the protagonist. 

sorry for this very harsh, scathing review but i just had to say how i truly felt about this book. i wish i could’ve seen it in a more positive light but unfortunately this book was not for me. i’m gonna quit complaining about it on here, although i could probably go on for a long time about how much i disliked this book, but you best believe i will continue to do so in my head for who knows how long. #sorrynotsorry

one more thing - i really hate how this book does not have quotation marks. i could hardly distinguish what was actual dialogue between characters and what was the characters thoughts or descriptions. 

sorry I’m done now. (i hope i didn’t miss or forget to write anything that really pissed me off in this book because i will look back at this review and be super mad that i forgot to include it) (also sorry if half of this doesn’t even make sense, i probs misinterpreted the whole book wrong because i was on a rant of rage)

:/

Samantha Kalany Hughes

** spoiler alert **
           First of all I wanted to thank Henry Holt and Company for sending me an advanced readers copy of A Very Nice Girl, set to publish Tuesday, February 8th! 

Written in the stylistic hue similar to that of Sally Rooney, Imogen Crimp paints a narrative of the ever-hopeless, yet bittersweet life experiences that come along with being in your mid-twenties...especially in the digital age. 

Anna lives the Londoner life, barely making ends meet and spending hours in Conservatory where she's studying to be an Opera singer, trying to make her big break amongst the vast, interconnected panel of professionals who could deem the security of her future. As she meets Max, the late-30s money man, who knows his within the world, she becomes entranced by his ways and mesmerized with his presence, even though he's voiced it loud and clear, that he's just looking for some fun, instead of a relationship. 

After the loss of friendships, the insert of toxic familial interaction, and a fall from grace in the theatric light, her relationship with Max seems to be the thing she can always come back to, even after his highs and lows, the same applying to Anna. Though they spent some time apart, they always find their way back to each other. 

There were times where I felt Max was gaslighting Anna a bit, and I in no way condone that sort of behavior in relationships, but I really do feel that he had her at the forefront of all of his movements, from financially funding her dreams, to listening on end her rough patches, and logistically being the partner that she always needed. I kept waiting for the two of them to blurt out that they loved each other, but of course, not. I do feel that perhaps the ending summarized that declaration through an act of affection, the way they best knew how, but I digress. 

I absolutely loved the linguistic allure of this book and look forward to more works that Imogen puts out in the future. 

4.5/5

A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp has been compared to Normal People and I can see the similarities. The story follows struggling opera singer Anna as she tries to balance pursuing her career with her relationship

I finished this book earlier today and honestly I am not sure what to make of it. I am sure Max was intended to be an antagonist and at times his behaviour was questionable. However honestly I didn’t care for any of the characters which made this a tough read

The relationship between Anna and Max certainly shared similarities with Marianne and Connell as the differences in their circumstances were exaggerated. The book also lacked in speech marks similar to Sally Rooney’s writing


Monicap &
A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp

Reviews

Highlights

Join the club

Monicap &A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp

Reviews

Highlights

Join the club

Monicap &
A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp