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just_danusch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Minor: Racism, Vomit, and Alcohol
bloodmaarked's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
✧ full review on my tumblr ✧
Graphic: Body horror, Sexual content, and Vomit
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Racism, Excrement, and Death of parent
mel_bee_421's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Graphic: Racism and Vomit
Moderate: Murder and Alcohol
Minor: Violence and War
phantomgecko's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Defos living lives that I cannot relate with.
idk, obvs the point of the book is the people and not what is happening to them, and their personalities are fleshed out and believable. I'd rather have read about what happened than these particular unlikeable character tho.
Moderate: Body horror, Racism, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Classism
irinalast's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Minor: Confinement, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, and War
ddclarke's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Likely hurt by having watched the movie first, which was very faithful and left me little to discover in the pages.
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Death, Racism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, War, and Classism
robynbookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Blood and Vomit
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Cursing, Racism, Excrement, and Alcohol
franklola's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Blood, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Chronic illness, Racism, and Alcohol
Minor: Death, Grief, and Death of parent
hail_archangel's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Classism
Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Minor: Vomit, War, and Injury/Injury detail
ifoundcallie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Very reminiscent of Stephen King, particularly “Under the Dome”. If you liked that, you’ll love this. For people SOLELY looking for a thriller or commentary on race/social class, turn elsewhere…this book intentionally subverts the expectations of those genres.
I love how the omniscient narrator stingily portioned out information, which shamefully left me feeling the same desperate NEED for information that the book was critiquing!
There are a few times in this book where the writing could use some trimming/adjusting towards purpose—the heavy emphasis on certain carnal images felt self-righteous and cheap for the rest of the story. Honestly, this is the only thing that keeps this book from being a “perfect” book for me. This pitfall is reminiscent of Stephen King’s writing, again, which makes sense knowing that the author reread Pet Semetary while editing this book. I can only read so many descriptions of bored and worn out married couples “tumbling into the only comfort: of flesh smacking against flesh” or teenage male characters and their detailed descriptions of “spit-in-hand, spurting release”, or adult men who are dumbstruck by their unexpected “large load of vitality and youth long gone”. I felt disappointed every time the book swung back to these tropes, faithfully. Yawn.
There are many passages/chapters in this novel that blew me away and can easily stand on their own as brilliant pieces of art. I would love to sit and analyze some of the turn-of-phrase, allusions, and imagery handpicked by this intelligent author. I was giddy with annotation, and this book rewards you for paying attention to these nuances of craft. Overall, I’m so glad I was recommended this book. It itched an “am I spiraling and paranoid or is the world ending” scratch that is often not done well.
Bravo, Rumaan Alam.
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Racism, Sexual content, Excrement, Vomit, Alcohol, War, and Classism
Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, and Colonisation