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aleini'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
4.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Vomit, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Abortion
dontbelieveinez's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Mental illness
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Toxic friendship
sorenzs'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
3.25
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Body shaming, Infidelity, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
astridrv's review against another edition
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
taylorbrooke'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
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, and Vomit
sweet_rain's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abortion, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Terminal illness, Vomit, Abortion, and Alcohol
marns20_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The weird candid way she describes her parents and her relationship with them throws you off balance because she says really deep and personal things but in a detached, emotionless way that keeps you at arms length almost like when someone is crying but they don’t want you to hug or comfort them and you just stand there awkwardly staring at them. As unrelatable as the main character is (white, rich, privileged) her experience of the lethargy and apathy towards life was very relatable. Her crazy experiment is probably something we have all wished we could do at some point. I know I have. At parts, I found myself desperately rooting for her experiment to work, for her to be able to pull herself out of her despair and then other times you really couldn’t ignore what a truly terrible person she was, terrible friend she was. This struck a chord thinking about how mental health affects your relationships, your inability to show up or want to show up for people, it makes you irritable and mean, only willing to do the bare minimum despite how much you hate it or how much you love them. The complex nature of the human condition
Graphic: Drug abuse and Mental illness
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Chronic illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Abortion
lauchpferd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I don't know why this book exists, this should've been a short story and even then the plot is extremely flimsy. It took me 6 months to finally finish because of how much it drags it's feet. Most of the characters are completely unlikable and don't change or develop at all over the course of the story.
The main character does a 180 in her personality once the author realises the book is almost over but there are no in-story justifications for it. Reva dying is cliché, of course the best friend has to die for the betterment of the main character. Using 9/11 and her subsequently buying a new DVR to record it as a metaphor just seems crass, as does the very last line: "There she is, a human being, diving into the unknown, and she is wide awake."
While the occasional sentence or image might be interesting, (the arctic fox freezing to death) it's immediately undermined by whatever comparison to genitals the author can come up with.
The book was recommended to me for being "deep" and "real" but I'd say it's the exact opposite.
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Infidelity, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
zenizage'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
3.75
I found the depiction of the main protagonist's depression and the people (ab)using her razor sharp at times. Maybe it was borderline triggering for me. But that being said: it captures depression and the feeling of having no self-worth (and not even having the will to fight for it) quite well!
I am not American and the extreme use of medication was ... maybe even most frustrating to me. Maybe I didn't get the "joke" because I did not know anything about the drugs she was using?
Maybe the point of the book for me is to take a closer look at myself, because I at times found it hard to have compassion for the main protagonist, who was clearly suffering, but instead was frustrated with her and her numbness and her having given herself up and how she treats other people. For someone who has had to deal with depression herself that is almost shocking.
...
Edit: After Giving it some thought–is the protagonist something of a modern day Daisy Buchanan?
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Cancer, Suicide, Excrement, and Vomit
Minor: Abortion
motleybooksandtea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Cancer, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Abortion, and Pregnancy
Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death