Binary Star

The book really hit me in a soft spot. Mostly due to how the character's battle with their mental health and addiction issues. To be more specific the narrator has a severe eating disorder and her boyfriend is an alcoholic who drinks too much with his psych medications. The story shifts from a road trip they're taking cross country to their day to day lives, struggling to manage a long distance relationship. It's not a happy story by any means but it is very real. Gerard does an amazing job presenting it with this melodic staccato prose that I feel like could have been a flop in lesser hands. I felt the book is a perfect length, It was long enough for me to develop a relationship with the characters but not so long that I became annoyed with them. That was the most powerful aspect of the story because a lot of us know people like the characters in this book and they can be so effing frustrating at times. No matter how much you love them, they drive you crazy, and there is nothing you can do but watch them self destruct. I will also say that the ending didn't go down like I thought it would. It was a good ending but it gave me mixed feelings.Gerard is a beautiful writer. I re read a lot of passages as I went. Very poetic prose. I will definitely read more of Sarah Gerard's work in the future, especially if she continues to tackle tough subject matter the way she has in Binary Star.

Very brutal depiction of eating disorders which was difficult but important. The central relationship was equally painful and painfully real. I also enjoyed the astronomy lectures throughout. It shows you that someone with an eating disorder, who is codependent, obsessed with her appearance, vain, is not also vapid. Books like this that are unflinching about darkness and dysfunction in young people challenge us to practice empathy and understanding of unseen struggles in others. The ending felt a bit rushed and left me wanting more.

Upon initially reading this novel, I found myself scatterbrained, as it was almost too overwhelming due to the pace in which it was written. However, I became deeply enthralled by Sarah Girard's atypical style, as the constant shifts from the subconsciousness of the protagonist to the actual dialogue made the plot unpredictable, yet highly interesting. This is mainly because the suppression of internal motives and actual spoken opinions of the protagonist are ambiguous, making it a toss-up as to what she will do. I also became interested in this novel, as the poignantly, relatable descriptions of the protagonists relationships through day-to-day events were captivating. If you haven't already, please read this book!

I didn't feel the climax of the story, or the ending, was worth the pursuit. That said, Sarah is a talented writer. I love her essays. I wanted to take a look at what she was up to in fiction. This was written in an interesting format.p.s. the main character in this story has an eating disorder. Just a heads up.

I took an entire course on Ulysses when I was an undergrad. I find The Crying of Lot 49 intiguing. I love an unreliable narrator, and I hunt through books for clues I can piece together to talk about symbolism and allegory, theme, and characterization. In other words, nobody wants me in their book club.At first I though the impenetrability of this book would subside a bit, and I'd have that "a-ha" moment where I feel like I've cracked the code. I'm a sizable chunk in, and I haven't had that moment, perhaps because there is no actual code to crack. The narrator is anorexic, her boyfriend pops pills, and owning and eating animals is gross and wrong. The rest, I think, is just vague and flowery language couched in the language of astrophysics (ooooh, deep!).Also, the lack of quotation marks to indicate dialogue makes me crazy. There's also little dialogue attribution, so sometimes I think the narrator might be talking to herself....but I can't tell.

Binary Star isn't fun to read, and I mean that in the best way possible. It is a fast, spiraling read about addiction, a couple with shaky fate, and a woman's struggle with food and body image propelled by media in the worst ways. Gerard's style is as beautiful and luminous as it is chaotic, and you cannot help but keep turning the pages.

This book is an excellent window into the lives of a young couple, struggling to shed addictions. The authors literary techniques come into focus very cleverly as the books circles on, creating very enjoyable moments. My girlfriend and I took turns reading aloud, we enjoyed discussing the progression and states of the characters as we went along. I certainly recommend this book. It does have some sexuality and dramatic points, we were able to read it straight through in one sitting.

This is not for everyone. Heavy, heavy, heavy, and very light on plot. This has gotten some incredible reviews but it felt to me like graduate fiction writing class, 101.

Very millenial. Wasn't bad

I'm reading for a second time.

Oh. My. God. I paid £12.42 for this (flimsy) paperback book - LitHub raved about it and the NY Times also.- Could not do the 'Look inside' feature for it or I would not have bought it.The first few pages are poetic and beautifully written and I thought I was in for a treat. But then it fell off a cliff into self-indulgent, depressing, impenetrable dross I skim read to the end purely because I'd spent so much on it.Like a writing course first draft of experimental writing.This Binary Star will sear your brain, but not in the way the author intended.

Sarah is a wonderful person full of the intrigue and beauty. Talented, creative and artistic. I am totally absorbed reading her book. She is raw with her words and intent on acknowledgement of her issues. I believe, as a reader of many books of many different topics, that she will be well recognised and sought out as an author of this era. People will reading much more of her work. This is truly a classic dealing with her personal issues and addictions. Her boyfriend has his own set course but she will remain true to herself. I am honored to know her and will cherish her writing from her soul.

Wasn't keen on the format or writing style of the book, and lost interest quickly.