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dkrawec's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Writing style: Wow! I have not read such a captivating style of writing in a long time. This book is over 800 pages and I found myself speeding through it due to how well it's written. In a given chapter, a scene would begin, move into a flashback, switch to a future moment, toss in a vignette, and then return to the original scene all while being easy to follow and not lose the plot. It almost felt cinematic and it was clearly well thought out. It never felt circuitous.
The subject matter: Someone on Goodreads said this book was misery porn and I'd have to agree. Jude's life is gratuitously unfortunate to such an extent that it becomes frustrating (at times I literally was rolling my eyes, which feels inappropriate given the subject matter but it was just so much I was like, bro...🙄). It's almost as if all the events that keep happening to him are just for the sake of misery writing and less about what it builds for his character. The only thing that kept me reading was how eloquent and compelling the author's wordsmithing is. I definitely can say I've never read abuse, self harm or depression in this style of writing (which is kind of bizarre to say, but I do think it's a testament to Hanya's talents). However, again, much of it was excessive to say the least.
Fortunately, a lot of the material chronicles the main group and they're complex relationships amongst one another. Reading about how their friendships evolved over the course of their lives from college to late adulthood had me looking forward to the next chapter. I would say about 30% of it could have been cut out due to the excessive misery writing but the remaining portion was awesome. If some of it had been cut, this review would have been five stars without a doubt.
With that in mind, I would recommend it for the style of writing but avoid it if you do not want to read about highly triggering events surrounding self harm, abuse and depression. I'm definitely going to check out Hanya's other works because the style of writing was truly immaculate.
Graphic: Sexual assault, Child death, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Body shaming, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Vomit, and Hate crime
samburkhouse's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Death, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Confinement, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Blood, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Addiction, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Suicide, Chronic illness, Self harm, Child abuse, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma
armygdala's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Torture, Confinement, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Abandonment, Car accident, Ableism, Suicide attempt, Blood, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Rape, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Chronic illness, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Sexual harassment
mhjmojo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Chronic illness, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Homophobia, Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Physical abuse, Self harm, Alcoholism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Violence, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Grief, Medical content, Alcohol, Blood, Suicide, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Hate crime, and Suicidal thoughts
birdghosting's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Stalking, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Grief, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Torture, Drug use, Gaslighting, Blood, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, and Medical content
Minor: Transphobia, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Classism, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
catkin_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Trafficking, Violence, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Vomit, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Torture, Pedophilia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, and Abandonment
cfdurham's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Torture, Blood, Ableism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, and Body horror
arihana's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Child abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Ableism, Car accident, Chronic illness, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Death, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abandonment, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
lhaen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Grief, Child abuse, Alcohol, Abandonment, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Drug use, Addiction, Car accident, Body shaming, Blood, Violence, Torture, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Death, Sexual violence, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, and Eating disorder
cowardlyteaman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I absolutely love the way these characters are built, to be honest. They all got on my nerves at different points, but I still cherished all of them. I really like it when flawed characters.🫶
Willem is wonderful, of course, but not perfect? He makes mistakes! He's selfish, even. Delusional, at points.
Jude has been through — more than most, to say the least. And to be completely frank, it gets old after a while. I get tired of hearing about his problems, and I get tired of reading about him falling into the same patterns over and over again. However, I'm sure he's just as tired as I am. Or far more, probably. When I realised this, it became easier to empathise with his character.
JB is such a wonderfully flawed character. He made me wince with second hand ... not even embarrassment, just pain. I love him, even if he's a crown dick at multiple points during the book.
Malcolm is just there, honestly. Emotional support architect. But I do love a homosexual who never manages to admit it.
However, there comes the problem ... that there is no plot. There is no plot whatsoever. There is no end goal, no ambition the characters have for the future. They just are.
Hadn't it been for the fact that I annotated and analysed this book (just for hobby), then I might have quickly discarded it...
The events are short and repetitive, and soon become extremely predictable.
Moving on to something slightly more off-track... the names.
Jude St. Francis is such a great name for a character. I love it so much. Fits him so well.
Willem Ragnarsson, however. Eh. As a Nordic person myself, I have to say that I'm a bit confused. He has a Danish mother and an Icelandic father who gave their son a Dutch name? It's by no means impossible, but William or Vilhjálmur or Wilhelm would've just made more sense? Don't even get me started on the fact that these two Swedish-speaking parents named their severely disabled son Hemming. In Norwegian (which in all honesty is not much different from Swedish), «hemming» means handicap. Hämning /hem-ning/ in Swedish. While I'm sure the author had no intention of this, it jus seems absolutely ridiculous of them to name their child eith cerebral palsy Hemming. Not to mention that no-one's fucking named that in Denmark, Sweden, or Iceland.
That was my rant. It was worth it, despite the occasional drags of COMPLETELY irrelevant information.
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Medical content, Mental illness, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Blood, Body shaming, Grief, Ableism, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Medical trauma, Eating disorder, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Violence, Car accident, Death, Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Rape, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Racism and Racial slurs