Reviews with content warning for Grief - Pizza Girl

such an unlikeable protagonist. there were areas that i empathized with her on—she’s been going thru so much yes! with the grief and the baby on the way and the mixed emotions towards her family and her career trajectory—and her unhinged obsession with jenny was entertaining to an extent (tho mostly pitiful) but she really lacked that something that could’ve compelled me to root for her. i encounter antagonistic characters all the time in fiction, but most of them still have qualities that draw me to them (e.g. evil scientist who still has a soft spot for his daughter, sleazy lawyer who had a troubling past with his brother). there’s at least something about them that screams endearingly human, and while pizza girl makes an attempt at it, it still falls flat to me. i didn’t exactly observe a change in perspective in the end or any sort of improvement in her relationships. i’m pretty sure she was aware of the loving and supportive community she was surrounded by, but i’m so disappointed to see her still so closed off by it. if that was intended to be the ending, as depressing as it may be, then unfortunately i couldn’t feel a payoff to this reading experience.

Content Warnings

mariebouthi's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

erebus53's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

CW: firearm, drinking while pregnant, drunk driving, child neglect

This book was one that I picked up as it was a nominee for a book of the month in one of my book clubs. I have found it quite difficult to get my head around to write a coherent review. This may be my traumatised Autistic brain doing a Nope, or it may just be that I found the whole narrative a little incoherent.

The main character is a half-Korean(?) 18 year old, fresh out of school and newly pregnant. She is aimless and unfocused and clearly lonely. Despite having a handsome and popular partner who is driven to train up, get a good job and support her and the baby, she is .. just not feeling it. It's probably because she's way more into women than men but has never really stopped to identify what she wants from her life, and she feels pretty stuck with her options.

This emotional and messed up girl becomes obsessed with a middle aged woman who orders pizza from the place she works. Both women are clearly not quite coping with life and each seem to feel like they are rescuing the other, though it feels like they would be a lot better off if they focused on saving themselves.

As a fairly risk averse caregiver and rule-follower, I'm anxious all through this book as the main character leans hard into being her alcoholic father reborn despite having a baby on board. I can't quite wrap my head around the why of some of this woman's decisions.. or maybe they are more impulses than decisions, because there seems to be very little logic engaged with. The whole hot mess is quite unsettling. It does make me stop and think a bit about how I was when I was an odd and dysregulated teen, but I don't think I ever, even in my worst meltdowns, got quite this close to a psychotic break.

I dunno that I got anything good from this book.. but it was certainly.. something.

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binreads's review against another edition

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dark funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Not really what I expected. It explores the life of a young pregnant girl who lives with the trauma of her father's passing, and I think it really dictates the decisions she makes. I honestly didn't realize it at first but as the book went on, it is made very apparent that she is definitely struggling deeply with her life and future.

Her obsession with Jenny becomes really intense and scary. Very much stalkerish vibes. I felt extremely bad for her boyfriend and mother. The ending was really out of left field.

I thought this was going to be more lighthearted but it was really sad.

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