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marabdelmageed's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism
Moderate: Alcohol, Homophobia, and Suicide
leahbydesign's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
winter_b's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Pregnancy, Vomit, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Misogyny
Moderate: Outing, Suicide, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Bullying, Alcohol, and Abandonment
linaanderson's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, and Infidelity
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexism, and Suicide
Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Mental illness, and Homophobia
gracie's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Racism, and Racial slurs
Minor: Suicide, Outing, and Homophobia
sarzhaliu'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: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief
Minor: Homophobia
ramiel's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
The family pictured in the story, the main characters, have a very poor relationship where wants and needs are suppressed until they explode, and miscommunication is near constant. This, however, is the point of the story, it's a look into a very dysfunctional family dynamic at the very height of their emotions - when one of their children dies. This leads to the rest of them reflecting on the rest of their history while their present relationship makes them more and more angry and distant. When it comes to "character development", most of the story takes place in the past, and the rest is deeply present - you see more how they came to be in this ugly situation rather than a picture of anyone advancing forward.
My conflicting feelings have to do with the fact that these sorts of plots can make me feel emotionally exhausted, and I don't often care for it, especially in cases where couples cheat and children are neglected or mistreated - though this doesn't mean the story itself was bad, simply hard for me, personally to get through. I would not recommend it to anyone sensitive to these things, as I am.
However, this is the center of the book, it is the central conflict, and it is taken seriously by the author. Each character feels very real, and she doesn't shy away on how the parents' overbearing or neglectful attitudes have hurt their children (though, some of the moments between the parents and the children I feel she may be too forgiving of some of the parents actions, or of actions between the couple themselves). The writing itself is beautiful in places, and I love the way she describes the small moments that seem insignificant but mean so much to the characters, especially the children (who were honestly my favorite characters of the story).
Example below:
"Years of yearning had made her sensitive, the way a starving dog twitches its nostrils at the faintest smell of food. She could not mistake it. She recognized it at once: love, one-way deep adoration that bounced off and did not bounce back; careful, quiet love that didn't care and went on anyway. It was too familiar to be surprising. Something deep inside of her stretched out and curled around Jack like a shawl, but he didn't notice. His gaze moved away to the far side of the lake, as if nothing had happened. She stretched her leg and touched her bare foot to Jack's, big toe to big toe, and only then did he look down at her."
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
Minor: Car accident, Hate crime, and Homophobia
Additional warning for cheating. The story is of a mixed race family in the 70s, the father is Chinese and so there is detailed descriptions of the racism he's faced and still faces, his children are also similarly affected. The mother is a white woman who wanted to be a doctor, and from her background are detailed descriptions of misogyny. Due to their own backgrounds, they try to push their children to accomplish what they'd failed, leading to a great deal of trauma for the three children. For homophobia, there is one character who is gay, and another character threatens to out him during an argument - this is only a few pages near the end, however. There is one minor scene near the end where a character is drinking and driving and gets into an accident.cakrolik's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, and Homophobia