The trouble with quirky characters is as much as you enjoy meeting them, you don't connect with them as well. Or perhaps it was because I found the two MCs fabulous - both gorgeous and fabulated - rather than real.

I was struggling to catch up with Jordan, the idiosyncratic librarian. And racing to get a handle on what NR Walker was really telling me about being asexual. I got the impression she was writing this book to instruct me in the subtleties of asexuality.

Jordan and Hennessy become acquainted at a group Hennessy has organised for asexual fellow travellers since his move to Surrey Hills in Sydney, where Jordan lives.

Despite feeling a little left behind, the novel is brimful of NR Walker's familiar charms. Great narration by Glen Lloyd, though I think I did lose track of who was who between Hennessy and Jordan a few times. ( )

I 100% loved this. It was such a sweet story, with nice characters and supportive friends. I particularly liked how the basis of the story was the two main characters overcoming their internal anxieties and getting to know each other—there wasn't manufactured external drama just for the sake of drama. There were some "lecture-y" parts woven in, at the support group meetings, but I didn't mind because I was interested in learning more. ( )

4.5 ( )

Not my favourite. It somehow felt flat to me. ( )

This book was highly recommended by ace bookstagram, which is where I first heard about it. I had high hopes for this one. It was definitely the fact that Jordan is a librarian that cinched it for me. Ace rep AND a librarian? Insta-buy.
This book is, naturally, very heavy with ace rep. It's always affirming to read a book with asexual characters, but this one is almost too heavy, with whole paragraphs sounding like they've been pulled from AVEN or an encyclopedia. This could be a good introductory read for people who best consume concepts from stories, but I got kind of impatient with the Asexuality 101 and 102 explanations. Both Hennessy and Jordan have had relationships end because they were ace, and Jordan felt like he was broken because he didn't want to have sex. The pain behind those occurrences felt real and grounded the story.
To me, the characterization is the weakest point. Neither character really seems real; they just seem like a combination of various tropes, attributes and roles. Hennessy (yikes name) is perfect to the point of being boring and Jordan is Mr. Anxiety and Adorkable To The Max. That said, I did find their relationship cute. They ride the same bus and are cute together, and the other commuters get emotionally involved in their relationship and ship them and give advice, which is kind of funny.

Read the full review and trigger warnings at https://fileundermichellaneous.blogspot.com/2022/06/book-review-upside-down-by-n... ( )