As with most things I read, I went into The Reckless Kind by Carly Heath expecting to love it. A queer platonic relationship? An asexual character? A gay couple? Disability rep? Yes please. But was Heathās novel really all I hoped it would be?
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Summary
Welcome to Norway, 1904. Asta Hedstrom has spent her life being told that she should be grateful for any male attention she receives. See, she experiences single sided deafness and is often referred to as having an āunconventional appearance.ā When Asta is betrothed to Nils, her parents are thrilled.
However, Asta is less thrilled with this arrangement. Instead, she would rather live with her best friend Gunner Fuglestad and his secret boyfriend Erland Fournier.
Things take a turn for the worse when Nils attacks Gunner in a fit of jealousy. Gunner is seriously injured.
The only thing that may make the situation better would be if they can find a way to win the village’s annual horse race.
Thoughts
What I Loved
As I mentioned, there were a number of things that made me excited to read The Reckless Kind. Thereās the disability representation: in addition to Asta, Gunner is missing a limb, has a spinal cord injury, and is living with depression. Erland has anxiety and āstomach problemsā – probably ulcers. While I donāt think itās ever explicitly stated, Asta is asexual.
From what I understand, Carly Heath is also asexual and lives with a disability.
So I want to emphasize that I appreciated the representation in The Reckless Kind. As an asexual person, I have memories of trying to describe how I wished I was exposed to more fiction that explored alternative ways of creating families and the people I was talking to not really understanding what I was talking about. While I recognize that The Reckless Kind is not the only book that explores this theme, I think itās an important one. I wish this was something I had access to as a kid.Ā
What Didn’t Work
That said, there were some elements of The Reckless Kind that didnāt work for me.Ā
First, I felt like there was a huge lack of character development. Many of the characters – including the main trio – didnāt really seem to grow or change much over the course of Heathās novel.
This might sound weird, but I was also interested in learning more about Nils. What drew him to Asta in the first place? What made him the way that he was? As it stands, he felt a lot like a one dimensional character who was only really angry that his fiancƩe broke up with him.
I was also confused as to why the trio was ok with just giving up the theatre. Yes, I understand that the theatre was shut down after Erlandās father cut funding after Erland left to live with Gunner. But weāre also told that the theatre was a huge part of Erlandās early life. And now Erland is all āforget theatre, I want to be with Gunner.ā Which, I mean, thatās great.
And also, I think it wouldāve been interesting if they had explored ways to incorporate theatre into their lives. Like, I donāt know – could they have converted part of the Fuglestad into a theatre space? Found a way to do outdoor performances in the town square (with permission, of course)? I donāt know – Iām just spitballing it.
My second issue: The Reckless Kind is told from the perspective of Asta and Erland. Thatās great, but I also thought we shouldāve gotten some chapters from the perspective of Gunner. This might also help with character development.Ā
It may also be worth mentioning that Gunner and Erland referred to each other by their last name; Asta referred to everyone by their first names. This didnāt bother me too much, but I suspect this might bother other readers.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means Iāll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please readĀ full disclosureĀ for more information.
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