Any Way the Wind Blows review
Hurray, I finished it! I'm sad it's over but glad it ended well.
Bi visibility, short version: if you're unsatisfied with how Rowell handles it elsewhere this isn't going to help.
Ending tied everything up a little *too* neatly too fast, but I liked it. Still mostly satisfying.
Audiobook version, it was sometimes hard to keep track of who was narrating each chapter, since it jumps so frequently but it's still the same person reading it.
I give it like 3.9/5.
Any Way the Wind Blows, bi visibility long version
SO.
Pros: the book actually used the word bisexual and there's a second maybe-bisexual character
Cons: no one actually uses the word to describe themselves.
Baz assumes Simon is gay and when S objects B asks if he's bisexual. Nope! He's still just not really sure "which flag to wave at pride," which is cute and fits the demi reading I had, but that still leaves this book and series falling short on bi rep.
Any Way the Wind Blows, bi visibility long version
So I kind of see two sides of this. I still love the books. I like the portrayal of sexuality as fluid and I think enough attention is given to both characters' relationships to be clear it's not a phase or something. As individuals it's just a fact of who they are, and that's great.
Taken as a whole and in the context of bi erasure everywhere, the word matters and I'd like just one of Rowell's many bi-appearing characters to actually use it.
Any Way the Wind Blows, bi visibility long version, spoilers
The other maybe-bi character is Agatha. She has a relationship with another woman develop over the course of the book that doesn't actually resolve until almost the end.
It's not like it comes out of nowhere, I was cheering for them almost from the start. But it's all hints and subtext for most of the book, and at no point does Agatha describe or consider her sexuality to herself, the reader, or her new girlfriend.