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kappafrog's review
dark
emotional
slow-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
3.75
This was different than I was expecting. The final story takes up almost half of the book. I was hoping that Olivia's story might draw together all the people from the earlier stories in interesting ways. She'd appeared in a few and I was wondering if we were building to something climactic. But it didn't end up going that way. Her story still represented a lot of what the book was about - the conflict between fame and the pull of home for a variety of Native people trying to make it big. But it felt a little strange spending so much time on things like her picking out an outfit for a few pages when we'd only spent that many pages with someone like Barry Four Voices.
I think my favourite story was Gary Hollywood. I liked when he would show up from a different character's perspective in passing, no one knowing the world he carried inside him. The author excelled at getting into the voices of a huge variety of people with many distinctive voices. No two characters felt the same. Lucy Bigboca was the most cartoonish and felt the least like a real person, but everyone else felt very real. The haunting story from Barry Four Voices was a great way to start the collection.
Overall, I had mixed feelings about the final story and how it related to the others, but I definitely recommend this collection to anyone interested in dissecting how the pursuit of fame fractures people's identities.
I think my favourite story was Gary Hollywood. I liked when he would show up from a different character's perspective in passing, no one knowing the world he carried inside him. The author excelled at getting into the voices of a huge variety of people with many distinctive voices. No two characters felt the same. Lucy Bigboca was the most cartoonish and felt the least like a real person, but everyone else felt very real. The haunting story from Barry Four Voices was a great way to start the collection.
Overall, I had mixed feelings about the final story and how it related to the others, but I definitely recommend this collection to anyone interested in dissecting how the pursuit of fame fractures people's identities.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abortion, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Addiction, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Classism, Domestic abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Vomit, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Murder, and Pregnancy
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
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