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halee018's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.0
for me, the main reason this didn’t work for me as much as i wanted it to was the writing style. e.g. i had to read and reread the first sentence many times to fully grasp what he was saying. joseph earl thomas might be the antithesis of sally rooney with his use of punctuation.
nojsonofthan's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Incredibly moving, if somewhat scattershot memoir of growing up in a situation so traumatizing and dark that it shocks the conscience. The connective tissue of fantasy and video games, sustaining and warping the author's self as he grows up is novel and memorable. And when it's grim, it's insanely grim. Much like life, though, there's an inconsistency in tone that keeps the theme from really coming together: describing an actual life, even through a lens wielded by an author as skilled as Thomas, is going to have an intermittency - there are downs that surprise you but there are also ups that, perhaps unintentionally, blunt the downs in ways that made them less effective to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Animal death, Abandonment, Bullying, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Incest
sheisnovel's review against another edition
3.0
This should replace The Catcher in the Rye for school readings.
materialambition's review against another edition
1.0
such a shit life being an unwanted and uncared for child
courtneyjane's review against another edition
5.0
Some summers you'll change shape and in the following years, relatives who used to fuck you up will say, "oh he got so big now" and reach up to try to pat you on the head and you slap their fucking hands down and stare in awe at their confusion.
mollief's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
It is a ROUGH read, but it’s a unique style.