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stephyrm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death
Minor: Drug use, Blood, Death of parent, and Classism
six9's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Sexual harassment
piercedpetals's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Death
louise_mc2'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
2.75
Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
maislily's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Grief
flohbeutel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Suicide
abookishgoth's review against another edition
2.75
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
perleerose's review against another edition
- 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
2.75
There were some moments that I did like where Rooney steps away from the characters and just dishes out wisdom for early adult life to her own characters. Her physical writing is also very impressive.
"Life offers up these moments of joy despite everything."
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Bullying, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Eating disorder
ljghazin04's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
booitsnathalie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book is predominantly about an inability to connect to others, of superficial interactions insufficiently standing in for a deeper connection the two protagonists crave. The conclusions they arrive at are frustrating, but so deeply articulated that they make a sort of sense. Nobody is capable of unpacking their adolescent (and ongoing) trauma because it requires a vulnerability that frankly terrifies them. So they dissociate, attempt to mirror each other, cling to the closest approximation of happiness they can find. It is unrelentingly bleak and I admire the willingness to refuse an easy resolution.
The degree to which this articulates an actual worldview of impossible codependency is murkier for me, with a lot of baggage of outdated psychology being inserted as an inherent cause of the isolation everyone feels (rather than, say, the class disparity that is crudely gestured at but far outside the novel's interests). I cannot begrudge it too much as it is well in line with characters who themselves have very little awareness of the reasons they are so unhappy, but I am skeptical about the ways that viewpoint inevitably gets expanded to be some sort of social truth.
Mostly I am surprised by the book's coldness. I devoured it in a few days and came away feeling profoundly empty. I do mean this as a compliment of sorts.
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship