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3.07 AVERAGE
3.07 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
tense
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
medium-paced
The prose is engaging, but there is nothing more boring than rich middle aged white people
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
I have the Ick.
The prose is undeniably gorgeous.
The structure holds.
The bones of a powerful story are there.
But what’s built on them left me gutted in all the wrong ways.
Because here’s the truth: a girl is harmed, and no one, not the narrative, not the tone, not even the mother, fully honors that reality.
The mother doubts her.
Thinks she’s making it up.
The father arrives in a cloud of controlled rage.
He believes her, and there's something steadying in that, but even his fury is restrained, polite.
And the mother?
She’s grieving the loss of her life, her friendships, her place in the world.
It all reads like a quiet, literary reenactment of patriarchy: exquisite in form, but hollow at its core.
A story where men mourn each other and their unraveling, while the girl, the one who’s actually been violated, is made peripheral.
Symbolic.
Small.
I’m exhausted by this. By the erasure. By the way her pain becomes texture rather than truth.
I am done with stories that treat females as collateral damage in the emotional growth of men.
I am done with mothers who choose denial over devotion.
I am done with pain wrapped in poetic language that asks me to admire its beauty instead of name its brutality.
The prose is undeniably gorgeous.
The structure holds.
The bones of a powerful story are there.
But what’s built on them left me gutted in all the wrong ways.
Because here’s the truth: a girl is harmed, and no one, not the narrative, not the tone, not even the mother, fully honors that reality.
The mother doubts her.
Thinks she’s making it up.
The father arrives in a cloud of controlled rage.
He believes her, and there's something steadying in that, but even his fury is restrained, polite.
And the mother?
She’s grieving the loss of her life, her friendships, her place in the world.
It all reads like a quiet, literary reenactment of patriarchy: exquisite in form, but hollow at its core.
A story where men mourn each other and their unraveling, while the girl, the one who’s actually been violated, is made peripheral.
Symbolic.
Small.
I’m exhausted by this. By the erasure. By the way her pain becomes texture rather than truth.
I am done with stories that treat females as collateral damage in the emotional growth of men.
I am done with mothers who choose denial over devotion.
I am done with pain wrapped in poetic language that asks me to admire its beauty instead of name its brutality.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
medium-paced
ARC REVIEW
I’m not really sure how to review this if I’m honest.
Among Friends is a powerful piece of literary fiction, spanning the lives of two families if lifelong friends, Amos and Emerson. Each character is so thoroughly written that we know the ins and outs of each by the end, there are twists and turns and Ebbott’s tense, abrupt tone is very refreshing, and the language is so well commanded but, I have to admit, I was bored. I did enjoy it. but 300 pages was a bit much.
My honest review is it is another piece of fiction where crisis would have been averted if the two main characters just realised they wanted to sleep together …
Thank you to Picador and Netgalley for the ARC
I’m not really sure how to review this if I’m honest.
Among Friends is a powerful piece of literary fiction, spanning the lives of two families if lifelong friends, Amos and Emerson. Each character is so thoroughly written that we know the ins and outs of each by the end, there are twists and turns and Ebbott’s tense, abrupt tone is very refreshing, and the language is so well commanded but, I have to admit, I was bored. I did enjoy it. but 300 pages was a bit much.
My honest review is it is another piece of fiction where crisis would have been averted if the two main characters just realised they wanted to sleep together …
Thank you to Picador and Netgalley for the ARC