Gena/Finn by Kat Helgeson, Hannah Moskowitz

Gena/Finn

by Kat Helgeson and Hannah Moskowitz

Gena and Finn would have never met, but for their mutual love for the hit TV show, Up Below. Regardless of their differences—Gena is a recent high school graduate whose social interactions largely take place online, while Finn is in her early twenties, encountering the difficulties of job hunting in a poor economy and contemplating marriage with her longtime boyfriend—the two girls realise that the bond between them is more than fan fiction. But when disaster strikes and Gena's world turns upside down, only Finn can save her, and that, too, comes with a price. Told through e-mails, text messages, journal entries, and blog posts, Your Machine Anatomy is a story of friendship and love through social media in the digital age.

Reviewed by lindsey on

4 of 5 stars

Share
According to the reviews on Goodreads, this book is quite polarizing, with some people loving it and others hating it. I can almost understand the dislike. Almost. The book did make it seem like it was going to go in a different direction at the beginning. It was pretty blatant. But, much like real life, things don't always happen like we hope they will.

In this case, I was a little disappointed in how it turned out, but I still really enjoyed the book. I read it all in one day, almost in one sitting, which hasn't happened in a long time, so I was pretty invested in the story and these characters.

I related to Gena and Finn so much. It was unbelievable just how much. The authors are clearly familiar with the world of fandom, and it felt so immersive.

The story is told through LiveJournal-type journal entries, Tumblr posts, texts, emails, and notebook entries, and while it took a couple of minutes to get used to it, it added so much to the story. One thing I would suggest, though, is to read a physical copy, if possible, because I read the Kindle version, and the formatting was a little messed up at times. But that was a minor problem that didn't take away from the story.

Though it starts off light-hearted enough, with the girls fangirling together, it does take a dark turn about 60% into the story. I wasn't expecting it to get quite so dark, and while I thought it added a deeper element to the story, I feel like it's important to note in case anyone needs to be warned about it.

One of the girls is a fanfic writer, and all good fic writers know that you should properly tag your fics with any warnings that apply to the fic, and this story would need quite a few warning tags. The cover and blurb would make you think it was going to stay fairly light, but there is an element of danger and death, and mental health issues play an important role throughout the book, with the last quarter of the book focusing on it pretty closely.

I really thought the story was going to go in a different direction, and, like I said earlier, I am a little disappointed that it didn't, but I still thought it worked out okay. I don't want to post any spoilers in this review, so I won't get into what I'd hoped would happen, and instead I'll just say that I really enjoyed the book.

Immersive, unique, and well-written, I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a quick and interesting read, especially those who enjoy participating in fandom.

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 7 April, 2020: Finished reading
  • 7 April, 2020: Reviewed