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cko's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood
Minor: Suicide and Self harm
tashadandelion's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I'm having a very "what did I just read?" reaction to this novel. Not because different formats are used to tell the story (interview transcriptions, screenplays, emails, 2nd person present tense narration mixed with straight-forward limited first person past tense), but because I couldn't feel the disparate plot lines coming together until the very end, and at that point I wasn't sure if it worked for me. I'm grateful the author gives us answers, but I didn't come away as satisfied as I expected to feel after getting those answers. The pages turn quickly -- the writing is clean and engaging -- so I did get enjoyment from my time spent with this book. I just feel my jury went out to deliberate over the effectiveness of its structure and never came back. Though Alice's story of a high school incident gone terribly wrong is supposed to be the heart of the story, I felt like Nick's alcoholic spiral was far more compelling in the end, because his character was somehow more immediate in its suffering. As for the horror elements, I was left scratching my head over Nick's encounter with the hooded men at the cabin (was that real? hallucination?) but was blown away by the horror of what Q had put Alice through and was hoping to follow up on through Nick's access to her. SHUDDER!! I also particularly enjoyed Nick's (but really Alice's imagination's) impulsive solution to that problem. It had a "The Lovely Bones meets brutal NYC" feel to it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
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