Lobsters

by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison

[Nessa Luna]

A couple of months ago, I started hearing a lot about Lobsters in the Dutch book blogger's world. I got really curious about it, but - as always - very careful as well, because hyped books aren't always my cup of tea. When I heard that the authors of this book would be coming to YALfest in April next year, I decided I was going to try it out, so at least I'll finally know what the hype is about.

Lobsters is about Hannah and Sam, who are determined to find their 'lobster' (aka lose their virginity) before they go to university - because who goes to uni without losing their virginity? that's right, losers. They meet each other for the first time at Stella's house, and have an instant connection. Then, a lot of stuff happens that makes this story super awkward. This story follows them as they have several almosts (almost having sex at a party, almost having sex with an older American girl, almost almost almost).

As you may have realised - by reading my little summary above - this book is just mainly about two kids trying to get laid before going to university, and honestly I didn't really care about that at all. I'm not one of those people that is desperate to lose their virginity, so I couldn't relate myself to these characters at all. I honestly found it a bit annoying that they were so determined on doing it before university.

As an asexual, I felt rather uncomfortable with the amount of (talk about) sex in this book. It wasn't as detailed as in that one adult book I once read (no it's not fifty shades of grey), but still it was super awkward to be reading about that stuff. I mainly just skimmed through it until it went back to 'normal'. The rest of the story was interesting though, and I really would have rather read about the (straining) friendship between Stella and Hannah instead of the latter wanting to have sex with Freddie or 'toilet boy'.

Like I said, I couldn't relate to any of the characters, and I didn't really like any of them more than the other. I thought Robbie was a bit annoying which his determination to prove he wasn't a fan of Harry Potter (why is that so embarrassing jfc) and yeah, I don't know - I just didn't like any of them that much. My favourite part probably was the scene where Hannah and Sam met, where they had a conversation in the toilet.

The writing was really nice, and though it was written by two authors, I couldn't really detect any difference in writing style, which means that they did a good job. I'm not sure if they'll continue as a duo, or if they will write more books separately, but maybe they have other books that can interest me more.

So yeah, I guess Lobsters just wasn't the book for me. I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it as much as the majority of the book world did. I am still looking forward to meeting the authors, but I'll probably be more excited for other authors more. If you really love contemporary books such as Anna and the French Kiss and Paper Towns, but you want it to have a bit more of a new adult vibe - you should try out this book!

My opinion on this book in one gif: