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booksandabackpack's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Every character was harshly distinct from one another with fantastic jobs and unique traits that felt tremendously cliche to me. A family of four sisters all so wildly different from one another felt so forced and like a box was ticked. It wasn’t just with their careers but their sexuality, fashion, living situation, and everything in between. All the side characters were forced into this distinction as well, with their unique identifiers being pushed to the forefront. This completely took me out of the story and felt like a checked off list more than a naturally diverse fictional world. I took multiple notes throughout when a new bauble of a character would appear because it just baffled me.
While the hodge podge variety of characters took me out of the story, what turned me against it was the treatment of addiction and the power within an age gap relationship. Addiction was clearly a struggle within this family yet it doesn’t tie together demonstrably. The best way I can say it is, icky. Although I’m not looking for a fiction book to promote a healthy way of handling a disease like addiction, this one read too flippant and discombobulated to appreciate it.
The last quarter was so much stronger than the first half or so but the epilogue was such a disappointment.
What Mellors did masterfully though was make each of the characters clearly alive on the page, even if they were weighed down by cliches. I’d like to read from her again in a story where the characters aren’t forced to fill out every possibly diverse aspect of a human being.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Moderate: Death
lindasoderlundd'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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Grief, and Alcohol
Moderate: Chronic illness, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
aglimpseinto's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
You have characters that are reprehensible, they commit multiple mistakes, but I still learned to love them and see them for themselves but also how they were seen by their sisters. And the descriptions of the relationships, the way that unity and conflict happen and split within seconds, everything was simply the way things actually are. I’m one of multiple sisters and at each point of the story I saw my own relationship with my sisters reflected back to me.
I definitely recommend this book and will be rereading it in the future without a doubt. I can’t wait to see what Coco will do next.
Some of my fav quotes:
“They say you don’t know your principles until they become inconvenient to you, and Avery is proof of this. She is deeply principled and often inconvenienced.”
“She was a carnival of feelings she never tried to hide. Sometimes she was the ecstatic swirl of a carousel, sometimes she was a bumper car collision, sometimes she was the still target waiting in the shooting gallery.”
“As long as you are alive, it is never too late to be found.”
And so many more. It made me wish to be able to express myself in this way.
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Vomit, and Alcohol
evawondergem's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Vomit
paatroklos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Drug use and Sexual content
meganana'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
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Pregnancy
rgs'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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Alcohol
Minor: Eating disorder and Death of parent
stephrand'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
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual harassment
Minor: Pregnancy
allisonplus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual content
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
katerina_l'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
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail