'The Inverts' by Crystal Jeans

 

'The Inverts' front cover

'The Inverts' by Crystal Jeans - ARC Review

*There are NO spoilers in this review!*

*TRIGGER WARNING: mentions of drug abuse, sex, loss/death*

A huge thank you to Net Galley and Harper Collins UK for accepting my request for this ARC in exchange for my review!

Description:

1921: a boy, a girl, and a moonlit midnight kiss. A terrible, repulsive kiss.

Bettina and Bart have grown up as best friends, so surely they will end up together? After all, Bettina is young, rich, headstrong... and gay. Bart is young, rich, charismatic... and also, definitely, gay. Any doubts are dispelled by, in short order: that ghastly kiss; a torrid encounter for Bettina in the school boiler rooms; and an eye-opening Parisian visit for Bart. 

Society will never stand for it. What else can they do but enter into a 'lavender marriage' and carry on indulging in their true natures in secret? As the '20s and '30s whizz past in a haze of cigarettes, champagne, and casual sex, Bart and Bettina have no idea that they are hurtling, via Hollywood and Egypt, Paris and London, towards tragedy and bloodshed...

Goodreads Rating: 4.00        My Rating: 3

First Impressions

My eyes caught the front cover on the Net Galley page and I just absolutely ADORED it, and then the description topped it all off! When you get a 1920s set book or film, you'd imagine Wall Street and flapper girls, so I liked the idea to focus on homosexuality during this time and the different issues that brought, as well as the general problems at the time with the economy, agriculture, and so on. 

In the prologue, you get the sense that they are the closest of friends and aren't afraid to show that to one another, as well as their humour and love language in a way being to poke fun at the other. I think the author, Crystal Jeans, did a good job at deceiving the reader here, as it isn't long into the book when the tumultuous events start to begin, and the cracks in all of their lives begin to show. Also, the first chapter after the prologue hints at a murder that must have happened during the book which is sooo intriguing, nothing is given away at all about who/what/why/where!

The Novel

The friendship between Bettina and Bart was sort of a teasing yet really, really intense one which you could sense from the beginning. Growing up together, they had trust and common interests, but being so similar meant more clashes - the older they got, the harsher they clashed. 

Bart is introduced being fairly sure of himself and his sexuality and it doesn't really take him long to share this with Bettina. On the other hand, Bettina is a little bit more unsure and it takes quite a while for her to figure it out (with some experimenting along the way...) before the 'lavender marriage' plan came into fruition. From then, the marriage itself was quite sour in a lot of places, as it would be, and seemed to dig them into a huge hole that I was so nervous about! I think it did teeter towards toxicity very closely... 

I loved the feminism aspects that were in the story, since it wasn't long after women got the vote. Strong female characters are fabulous. There are countless other 'taboo' topics that are sometimes romanticised in films and tv shows (in my opinion), such as drug use/abuse, sex between men and sex between women being fetishised, the truth about the acting industry, and it goes on. However, 'The Inverts' treats these with some respect and realism, not making them more positive or nice for the sake of being pleasing, but also not making them completely horrid. 

This novel also deals with a hefty amount of loss. For me, I didn't feel a very close connection to a lot of these characters so their deaths didn't move me as much as other books have... 

Final Thoughts

Finishing this book, I did feel a little bit disappointed but can't really pinpoint one particular reason. The first two thirds of the book were so enthralling, and the final third didn't have that same amount of intrigue! There were quite a few things that just rubbed me up the wrong way, probably more on a personal level. Physical appearances seemed to be described so much and lots of features put down - weight, teeth, hair - which makes me so sad... I also understand the homophobia then, and to this day, but every time a slur came up something inside of me just recoiled, and that happened more often than I would've thought (e.g. in conversations between Bart and Bettina). BUT this is just my take on it...

I think there could have been something a little bit MORE just to end with some satisfaction, but I'm sure that's just subjective. 

Conclusion

'The Inverts' has such an intriguing idea behind it, which is why it draws the readers in, and captured me for the majority of it. Unfortunately, it was just the final section where I felt it lacked something more for me and just felt a bit rushed... 

There's no denying that Crystal Jeans has a great writing style, some good humour, and really creates an image of these families from the 1920s onward to where they could have been real! It is definitely worth trying as I did really enjoy the story to a certain point and would love to know others' opinions on it!

Let me know what you think! :)