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In Retrospect

by Morgan (link)

Genre romantic comedy
Pairings Isaac/Marit Larsen, Isaac/OFC, Taylor/OFC, Zac/OFC
Length 63 chapters
Status Unfinished

Immediately, sixty three chapters seems overwhelming. It’s a little more, though, once I realize that Morgan has grouped the chapters onto pages and that each individual chapter isn’t really that long. Still, at any length, that’s a lot of reading for something I already know won’t reach any real conclusion.

In addition to the (mostly) quick chapters, there are quick and numerous point of view shifts. While it does give me a bit of whiplash, I do enjoy the way that each character seems to have an entirely different (and often humorous) take on the situation. It leaves me wondering where the reality lies — presumably somewhere in between the extremes expressed by each new point of view character. That’s a tough thing to pull off, multiple unreliable narrators, but Morgan does it well.

The more I read of In Retrospect, the more I realize what it reminds me of. Imagine if The Diary of Bridget Jones or Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging were written in normal prose with multiple narrators. For a more hanfic-y example, think of the classic My Mother’s Obsession With Pies. The difference is that this story, with its standard formatting and more conventional (if still very conversational) writing style, is a lot more accessible.

And like Pies, this story just… stops. Looking back, not that much actually seemed to have happened in those sixty three chapters, what with all the back and forth that most of the characters went through. And there’s definitely not actual resolution at the end. But it’s a romcom, so I can easily imagine the happiest possible ending, and then I don’t feel like I’ve wasted my time reading it at all.

Review by Bethany (website)