Speaking of, Olive’s personality also felt a little childish sometimes. Oh, and we can’t forget that he’s big, especially when you’re reminded every fucking page. The whole book, we don’t really know what Olive looks like or what she likes, and all we know about Adam is that he is a young, hot-shot professor who hardly ever smiled and went through tough situations as a PhD student himself. I understand him being sullen and broody is part of it (which, as I’ve said before, is perfectly fine with me and understandable), but I feel like it has to do less with that and more with just the mere fact that Adam is just. Adam, for instance, felt like he needed more personality. This all ties back to the writing and how difficult it was to enjoy the book more because of how little description was given to the characters. Visually, I could envision Adam more than Olive, yet we spend the entire book in Olive’s mind (since it’s told from her point of view). All I remember from her is that she is a PhD student in the Biology Department at Stanford University, is Canadian, 5”8, and I guess she has brown hair based on the cover. Not only that, but by visualizing what I read, I couldn’t picture Olive for the life of me. You could say he needed much more seasoning. I usually like fictional men like him, even if the way he acts and looks is nothing new, but this case didn’t work for me. It was difficult to understand his personality and the type of person he was other than moody and sullen because it’s something we are constantly and repeatedly told, especially from Olive. Men teach most classes, most advisors and major professors are also male, most students in classes end up being men, and everything else is usually male-dominated. While I’m not a STEM student, I even see it myself in the political field I study in. This was probably my favorite part of the book because Olive tells us how it’s been difficult for her to participate in a rigorous program like this, from being denied opportunities, not being believed in, to being seen as inferior, all because she’s a young woman in a predominantly male-dominated curriculum. Most of these end up being boundaries for young folk pursuing PhD careers in America, and it’s impressive to see representation like this. I admit, I loved this representation, and her experience as a scholar conducting research felt realistic, especially considering she’s not American (she’s Canadian), she’s not male, and she’s pretty young (26). Olive is a woman in STEM, but that is really all she is. But what starts as a fake relationship and fake feelings later turns into what Olive wishes were real instead. With his own reasoning, he agrees to become Olive’s fake boyfriend. Carlsen, known as one of the most unapproachable and critical professors. With no way to prove it, she kisses the first man she sees, which ends up being none other than Dr. The Love Hypothesis follows Olive, a PhD student who wants to prove to her best friend that she has moved on and is dating. I want to say this is a case of “It’s not the book, it’s me.” But then again, isn’t that the case for every book we end up disliking that everyone else enjoyed? And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope. Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor-and well-known ass. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships-but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation.
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