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vanesst's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Child death, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicide
Moderate: Abandonment, Ableism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Body horror, Bullying, and Xenophobia
Minor: Antisemitism, Car accident, Incest, Homophobia, Confinement, Alcohol, and Genocide
cheryl1213's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I read this rather quickly considering its length. There were certainly moments that dragged but it really did hold me. I'm absolutely one who favors character to plot (i.e., I can love a book with little action if it has great characters and makes them feel real), but this actually balances character and plot quite well. I think that broadens its appeal, although it certainly requires a reader who is willing to tackle a thick book!
I'd call it a family epic. There's a lot going on, but i think it really focuses on how we build our understanding of our selves, including how our past impacts our present and how much is all-but-preordained from birth (or even before). Lamb's narrator seems to be crafted as a vessel for asking these questions -- an identical twin who seems to have avoided/evaded a biological/genetic lottery that left his twin with schizophrenia but is doing penance by taking on his brother's care and whose complex childhood and adolescence led to an adult world marked by loss and a lot of bad luck.
Lamb does a great job of integrating several timelines (before doing so seemed to become almost the default) and even a "book within a book" (the narrator's grandfather's memoir). He hits you over the head with some things, including the similarities bw the narrator and his grandfather (he recognizes the grandfather's self-aggrandizing tendency but not his own), but that same factor probably helped make it relatively easy to keep the characters and plot points straight (I struggle with that in a lot of books so it's notable that I didn't have trouble here). There are some really interesting characters in there, including the narrator's closest friend and his ex-wife.
This one has been in my collection for some 20 years. The age needs to be kept in mind at times...in the grand scheme of things, it's contemporary literature, but there certainly have been changes in the world since then even putting aside things like answering machines. (It was particularly interesting to spot a story point on 9.11.1901!) It might be harder to read if you don't have a working memory of life in the 1990s...I wouldn't necessarily call it dated, but at times it seemed to presume a present-day reader (that may be true for most novels and it may simply be that I didnt approach it with the same mentality that i might had it been written in the 1890s).
A few things could have been cut (pretty much all of Joy's story made me want to skip ahead) and i prefer a less tidy ending ... I appreciated some answers but other parts felt quite random and uneccessary ... but if you're willing to invest the time, it's a rewarding read. It isn't a thriller or a mystery but there's enough plot to give it broad appeal.
If you like to have content warnings, I'd look for a review that's a bit better than I am at such things. There could be a lot of triggers in here....
Graphic: Self harm, Alcohol, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Violence, War, Cancer, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness
lets_book's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Homophobia, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Medical content, Grief, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Body horror, Sexism, Outing, Colonisation, Misogyny, and Bullying
Minor: War, Death of parent, Incest, and Infidelity
raincloud's review
- 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: Car accident, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Cancer, Colonisation, Infertility, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Abandonment, Addiction, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Classism, Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, War, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, and Police brutality
brennasjohnson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Rape, Violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism
Minor: Incest
hazelgirl21'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: Cancer, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pedophilia, and Rape