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mangofandango's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Oof. A hard read, but so riveting that I stayed up late and finished it in just a few days over Christmas. It’s not good Christmas reading! It’s extremely compelling, but also a long stomach ache of anxiety. It’s exactly the kind of story about nuclear war/end of the world/major unprecedented global disaster story that isn’t usually told - what happens when you’re not at the epicenter, when you happen to be in the “right” place (sort of) to not know what has happened but to still know something terrible has happened - and our phones can’t tell us, our TVs can’t tell us, governors can declare states of emergency but can’t tell us about them. How do you cope, what do you do, who do you trust? How do race and class come into play and how can you face the person you are under those kinds of tests? That’s what this book is. Some of the writing made me uncomfortable because it is cringe inducing (like, there’s a lot of weird, cringy bits about genitals specifically?)…but I also really liked many aspects of the writing - the changing perspectives, the omniscient narrator asides, the way the magnitude of what happened (though we don’t know exactly what it is) is communicated through things like migration patterns and optimistic phone chargers… yeah. Clearly I’m in my feelings about this. It’s a lot, but it’s an experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Vomit
Moderate: Death, Alcohol, and War
ojreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
2.5 Reading this book was a bit like a fever dream, both in the speed in which I read it as well as the nature of the material. Written before the pandemic started it encapsulates a lot of the early fear and distress of being home that March of 2022 contained. If you are a fan of thriller and suspense definitely consider it but if not maybe save it for when you need to shake up your genres. The style overall is engaging with small phrases set off provide the reader with insight into the character. Finally I wish there was a flamingo on the cover.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
sarah984's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
There were some things here that had the potential to be interesting - the "guess who’s coming to dinner" scenario with the white people who desperately want to believe they're not racist (or that they don't SEEM racist, these characters are preoccupied with seeming) but resent the class/race divisions not going the way they would expect, the mundane weirdness of living through a disaster, some of the things with the animals. However, the prose is extremely dense, full of short sentences, weird metaphors and unpleasant sexuality, and in the end it just kind of felt like a chore to read it. It also drove me insane that they spent all that time complaining about not knowing anything but refused to listen to the radio.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Vomit
Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Gore, Racism, Excrement, Medical content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Islamophobia, and War
There is a scene involving a person’s teeth falling out.rin_dawg's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Vomit
Moderate: Racism
mosscovereddreams's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Racial slurs, Blood, Vomit, and Alcohol
jeannek's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content, Suicide, and Vomit
nialiversuch's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Racism, and Sexual content
Minor: Child death, Suicide, and War
readwithbells's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Honestly, at the end of the day, I liked the concept but not the execution. It felt a little pretentious and pretty boring and by the time something truly horrifying happened to captivate my attention, the book was almost over. I was pretty excited for this book and wanted it to be better - it was written well and I think the author probably accomplished what they meant to but I just don’t think I liked it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Vomit
Moderate: Racism
niyou's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Vomit
elleemgee's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Vomit
Moderate: Racism