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3.07 AVERAGE
3.07 AVERAGE
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This one is going to be polarising.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
DNF
Gosh, this was WORDY, and I got maybe 20% of the way through it! I really don't need a whole paragraph describing someone getting dressed as a ritualistic experience, and not every single thing needs lengthy descriptions. Some of the writing itself was also just a bit confusing, and the book overall came off as overly pretentious. A bit too high-brow and winding for my tastes! I also already disliked all of the characters and that usually puts me off any book.
Gosh, this was WORDY, and I got maybe 20% of the way through it! I really don't need a whole paragraph describing someone getting dressed as a ritualistic experience, and not every single thing needs lengthy descriptions. Some of the writing itself was also just a bit confusing, and the book overall came off as overly pretentious. A bit too high-brow and winding for my tastes! I also already disliked all of the characters and that usually puts me off any book.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It’s hard to believe that ‘Among Friends’ is a debut. This is the kind of writing to which even the most seasoned author at the pinnacle of his career aspires and so often is unable to attain. Every last moment of it is exquisite, both at the line level, with its precise and vivid descriptions and its unrelenting insight, and at the level of the story as a whole, with the way it uses a single event to capture the human condition so brilliantly.
While reading ‘Among Friends’, I found myself more emotionally-invested in the characters and their actions than I have with any other book for a long time. It is so raw and honest. At every turn, I was so frustrated and devastated by what was happening and yet hopeful that the characters would do the right thing, all the while knowing it would be too simple and false if they did, because the happily-ever-after is a fiction, and ‘Among Friends’ is a depiction of the contradictory, complex mess of real people, because what is more human than someone puncturing the bottom of the boat and no one on board wanting to get up to patch the hole for fear of rocking it, as if that will allow everything to stay the same? Some might say the ending is ambiguous, but it felt perfectly and painfully clear to me.
I don’t think there’s anything I can say that will convey how truly remarkable ‘Among Friends’ is, except: Read it. Do yourself a favour, and just read it. The only caveat to that is that it deals with sexual assault, and there are frequent references to disordered eating, which some readers may wish to avoid.
There is no doubt that Hal Ebbott is one to watch. I can’t wait to read whatever he writes next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual content
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes