Scan barcode
_fallinglight_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Blood, Vomit, and Alcohol
Moderate: Child death, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, and Murder
deanchaudhri's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Body horror and Blood
Minor: Child death, Death, Racism, Suicide, and Violence
doodeedoda's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, and Alcohol
Minor: Racism and Suicide
biblio_reckah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Racism, and Vomit
Moderate: Blood and Alcohol
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and War
bluejupiter1818's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Body horror and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide and War
emory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The writing, while seeming unnecessarily ornate at the beginning of the novel (before the narrative reaches its point), is gorgeously poignant and haunting. My only complaint is the writing sometimes tilted into purple, with words clearly added only to show off the vocabulary of the author ("alee" to describe the inside of a Starbucks?), and the strange fixation and return to sex and what sex could metaphorically represent for these characters. Annoying, but not damning, and worth slogging through for the story itself.
The use of dramatic irony of knowing what is really happening while the vividly human portagonists stumble through figuring out what is going on, their dynamics with and what they owe to one another, and what course of action they have to take carries the novel to it's gut wrenching relevance and takeaway. A story couldn't be more frightening in the current climate of knowing how bad it is, knowing society's place perched on the edge of disaster, that something's about to give. Alam's masterful prose wanders through the particular scenario of a family finding out you can never really look away.
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, and War
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Genocide, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Car accident, and Murder
The book is about an apocalyptic scenario that is very realistic and claustrophobic.corirarrick2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Underwhelming and overwritten, this novel is all loose ends and feels incomplete, but not in the way that would lead to a sequel. The big mystery is not resolved, and it’s confusing and frustrating to endure. I would not recommend this to someone I actually like.
Graphic: Vomit
Moderate: Cursing and Sexual content
Minor: Suicide
Description of the teenage childrens’ genitals (as described by the mother?) and description act of masturbation of the teenage sonleahisreading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Death and Vomit
Minor: Suicide and Violence
franknforter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, War, and Injury/Injury detail
orireading's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Vomit
Moderate: Blood and Alcohol
Minor: Suicide
the author CONSTANTLY mentioned the 13-year-old character being chubby/fat, what she was eating, what her body looked like, etc. in a way that was rarely relevant to what was actually happening in the scene. that was weird honestly