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ashlyntalksbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Self harm, Grief, Abortion, and Alcohol
dudette's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Mental illness and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Abortion, and Alcohol
_inge's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
I think a big part of it is knowing from the start how this book will end. There’s nothing to read towards to. I’m all for character driven stories, but the only conflicts and meaningful interactions appeared in the last 50-100 pages or so. There was nothing to drive the story; Martha only figures things out late in the book, and it’s only then that we see characters engaging with her issues and the story can really come to life. Especially in the early stages of the book I felt so bored, everything I read felt so pointless. The main characters felt very neutral too (Patrick didn’t feel likeable nor did Martha feel unlikeable, as I’ve seen reviews describe), I think because they were described in a passive tone, so this entire book blended together into a neutral blur.
I think the pacing is another aspect that felt off. Every sentence was incredibly long, stretching 4 lines at times. Often these parts felt trivial to the story as well. There were shorter paragraphs to break things up, but these often contained information which added nothing to the story or characters whatsoever.
When Martha does finally get a diagnosis for her mental illness, and the story seems to get interesting, it’s described as ‘ - ‘. We read about her finally getting an assessment, we read what people around her think of her illness, and Martha spends time googling her symptoms and coming to terms with what this diagnoses means to her. It’s probably the most important part of this book, so then why isn’t the diagnoses stated? Is it so the author can make a statement about how you can still be an awful person, as one of the characters remarks?! At the end of this book there’s even a note that this mental illness is a fictional one, the treatments and symptoms are all made up. Why?? The novel emphasises the importance of labels and diagnoses, the entire book is based around mental health - why would you make up a mental illness? Especially one that’s so rooted in reality?! If this was meant to be a statement of sorts, I fail to grasp why the author makes us curious as to what the illness actually is by having Martha discuss it with others and exploring what it means to her - surely if it wasn’t about her specific illness you’d leave all this out, because now we will speculate on what it could be.
I really wanted to DNF this but I stuck through it to figure out why this book didn’t work for me. Though the story became more interesting as it went on, the ‘ - ‘ diagnosis part frustrated me too much to even enjoy the final segments.
Graphic: Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Vomit, and Alcohol
Minor: Death
wwdia's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Mental illness and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Drug use, Abortion, and Alcohol
Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy
sydneybedell's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Alcohol
frillsnspills's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
nicoles_reading_corner's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Moderate: Miscarriage
nialiversuch'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
memily'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
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Alcohol