Scan barcode
courtneyp's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I wanted to love this & I was enjoying the ambiance and the slow unfurling of the mystery. That being said, the further in I got the more apparent it became that the characters of colour were all background characters used primarily to further the story of the white characters. Then it fell completlely flat for me as soon as the pro-forced birth rhetoric started spilling through towards the end. It hit a little too close to home for me after the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade & I DNFed it and tossed it in the recycling bin. It was interesting to me that the woman performing what was described as an evil baby murder was one of the few POC characters. Marking it as finished because I did make it over 300 pages in & I'm coming out of a reading slump. Definitely would not recommend to anyone, there are better magical realism titles that don't shove their backwards views down your throat after you've wasted your time and made it 3/4 of the way in.
Graphic: Abortion
Moderate: Ableism, Cultural appropriation, and Racism
starsnstitchin's review
beautifully poetic writing but it was ruined by a christian fantasy plot using a nonverbal autistic child with synesthesia (not head canon but described as such in all but label). i was looking forward to a book with a main character who is pretty much a nonverbal autistic but all the blatant christianity in it wasn't worth it
Graphic: Bullying, Ableism, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Racism, Death of parent, Classism, and Emotional abuse
sace's review
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Abortion, and Murder
More...