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josh_mza's review
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
A captivating irony of a dysfunctional immigrant family trying to piece together what it means to live.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Suicide
Minor: Abandonment, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Addiction
belleanndthebook's review
dark
reflective
sad
3.0
After a few months worth of distance from this book. I can finally elaborate on my feelings towards it: This book creates a scenario with one set of expectations and then pivots and explores other themes almost entirely.
This book sells itself, both in the synopsis and the prologue, as a book that explores how knowing the date of one’s death shapes one’s life, a book thematically about—what I will attempt to summarize in one word as—mortality. However, immediately when we jump forward to the first sibling's perspective, the book begins to centrally explore another theme: grief. The siblings’ father dies, triggering the characters to begin thinking about death and thus begins the events of the story. Initially, the addition of this theme makes sense due to the proximity of mortality and death (and thus grief). However, the rest of the book very quickly becomes very repetitive.
The lives of the siblings become increasingly shaped mainly by grief as opposed to exploring how they grapple with their mortality. All of the siblings essentially struggle against their mortality and die in the exact same way (self-sabotage and recklessness) , and, until the literal climactic conclusion of the book, no other possibility of dealing with mortality is portrayed.
Thus, a book that I picked up expecting it to explore how people live their lives in the face and in spite of their inevitable mortality, actually turned out to be a book exploring grief, death, and dying over and over again without much meaningful variety. Don’t get me wrong, there was some merit in the siblings' stories individually and in the other themes explored; however, I think that many are going to find this book disappointing because the set-up in no way matched the pay-off.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Hate crime, and Addiction
Minor: Homophobia
bebidocrimes's review
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-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
3.5
It's heartbreaking to read a story that really begs the question: what if? What if they never went to the fortune teller? I think their dates were different before they walked through her door, but that information influenced them all, and especially Simon, in how they would lead their lives. I think Simon's choices were a hefty domino effect for the rest of the siblings. How would you live your life if you knew when you would die?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Death, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Medical content, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic
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