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dorynickel's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sometimes the characters seem not fully fleshed out, but then the two main characters' respective malleability and opaqueness are so intentional that I can't really take away points for this.
Above all, Waters' prose and storytelling are what makes this book stand out within the oft-derided "girly novel" genre. (Although it did take me a chapter or two to get used to the journal framing, with its varying syntaxes and mixed tenses.) I will admit that I didn't take this book seriously enough at first, and I was pleasantly surprised by the mastery with which Waters weaves the substance of the story and its candid prose together with the tropes inherent in its subject matter. Give yourself permission to take a sapphic Victorian Gothic mystery ghost novel seriously, and you're in for a real treat!
Graphic: Classism, Mental illness, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide
Minor: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia
horizonous's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide
Minor: Cancer, Abortion, Blood, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Torture, Animal cruelty, Death, and Domestic abuse
◦ Drug abuse = Laudanum◦ Mental illness = Anxiety, depression
sarah_i_jackson's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, and Drug abuse
Minor: Abortion
jonesmonster's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, and Sexism
faesissa's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Moderate: Drug use and Drug abuse