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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Child death
I would read this book again in a HEARTBEAT. So good.
Hard subject to read but very original. I enjoy short chapters that pull me into the next one! When I finished I thought, "that was a good book!"
Advice: keep reading after you first think, "these women are horrible!" It is worth it!
Advice: keep reading after you first think, "these women are horrible!" It is worth it!
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was like We Need To Talk About Kevin, but less disturbing. I almost wanted it to go a little further, but I also see how the author wanted to maintain plausible deniability and convince Blythe (and the reader) that she might be making things up. The ending was a bit expected, but I liked it nonetheless! I love a book that ends on a mic drop moment and refuses to unpack it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Grief, Pregnancy
Moderate: Child abuse
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Pluses—focus on pregnancy (pre and post with physical issues illustrated), an understanding of the isolation of mothers w young children, a MIL character who is not a stereotype.
Minuses — a multi-generational plot that added no depth to the story, mental health used as a plot device (the sociopathic/psychopathic character who seems fine to all but one person…).
The first 20 chapters had me hooked and eager to read on, though I also had a sickening sense of where this was heading. The rest drags as it’s mostly in the narrator’s head while she rethinks conversations and events. I can’t relate to a character w no job who lives in comfortable middle class style (did I miss something?), just moping and planning and feeling depressed.
The epigraph at the beginning lays out the reason for tracing the narrator’s history—her disinterested mother, her disengaged grandmother. For me, this did not create the backstory to explain the narrator’s daughter.
This is such a weak way to make plot work—no motivation, just crazy town and running with scissors!
Minuses — a multi-generational plot that added no depth to the story, mental health used as a plot device (the sociopathic/psychopathic character who seems fine to all but one person…).
The first 20 chapters had me hooked and eager to read on, though I also had a sickening sense of where this was heading. The rest drags as it’s mostly in the narrator’s head while she rethinks conversations and events. I can’t relate to a character w no job who lives in comfortable middle class style (did I miss something?), just moping and planning and feeling depressed.
The epigraph at the beginning lays out the reason for tracing the narrator’s history—her disinterested mother, her disengaged grandmother. For me, this did not create the backstory to explain the narrator’s daughter.
This is such a weak way to make plot work—no motivation, just crazy town and running with scissors!
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
quick & easy, but unsettling and depressing. Not sure if I loved the ending / big reveal because it kind of just felt like “yeah, duh” 🫤
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Abortion, Alcohol
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced