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ephemeral_remi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Self harm, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
skyfluff8's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death of parent, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Outing, Self harm, Abandonment, Addiction, Animal death, and Drug abuse
aiona's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
And although to begin with, the overdone, witty quips from Frank and Cleo felt fake and tiring, their doomed relationship developed to the point that I felt quite emotional reading about how fiercely they loved each other, yet could not connect. Seeing them come to that realisation was moving, despite how pretentious their lives seemed in other ways.
I suppose I wish the author had written about characters that didn’t feel the need to name-drop and live high-flying lives. Why couldn’t Cleo have been working in a cafe or something rather than be an unemployed artist wife to a guy who built up his own ad agency? People this broken do not have such glitzy lives. And this book would have really been incredible if the characters had seemed more real. The author has a real talent with words. But she chose to write about such unrelatable, movie-like characters. I wonder why she made that decision.
Graphic: Self harm and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse
ciarakilroy98's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Suicide, Drug abuse, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Self harm, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Alcoholism and Domestic abuse
femi_nasty_biblio's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Abandonment, Animal death, Grief, Infidelity, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, and Sexual content
alfietdonnelly'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
4.5
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Alcoholism, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Minor: Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia
cestarimm'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
3.5
i took a long time to finish this book even though i liked it from the start.
all i wanted was to shake cleo’s shoulders and take her to therapy.
it is an exploration on the ripple effect a hasty decision can have on every other relationship we have.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Dementia, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Dysphoria, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, and Suicide
hello_lovely13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Infidelity, Addiction, Animal death, and Death of parent
Minor: Transphobia, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia
bookishpip's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It’s about Cleo, a young English artist living in New York and struggling to make ends meet, and Frank, a middle-aged and enigmatic man with a successful advertising company. They meet by chance one New Year’s Eve, and the book narrates the highs and lows of their relationship with each other, those around them and themselves.
I think this book had some really poignant commentary on the nature of mental illness and the different ways it can manifest. It’s prose on this sometimes touched a nerve with me in ways I found to be painful. You rarely read accounts of consenting adults in relationships with a large age gap and this was quite interesting and refreshing to read about.
However, it doesn’t quite get 5* for me because it felt very superficial. I didn’t like any of the characters (and I don’t think this was done on purpose). Cleo and Zoe came across like they were supposed to be relatable but personally I felt them both to be spoiled and entitled. If this was supposed to be a commentary on the dangers of living life with too much influence on partying and substance misuse, then it did a great job. I do suspect, based on the ending, that this was partially the case.
Overall, I’m really conflicted about this. I’m giving it 4* because I did keep wanting to come back to it and the ending was satisfying. But perhaps I need to come back to this later when some of the themes aren’t so raw.
Graphic: Self harm, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Suicide
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Transphobia
harureads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Animal death, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness