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lucy_junor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A truly heart-wrenching portrayal of death and grief through the eyes of a child. While many parts of this book made me very uncomfortable I also found something very relatable and honest in Jas’ rationalisation of what was happening to her family, as well as her desire to single-handedly fix her parents relationship and become one with her siblings again.
I also sympathised with Jas’ need to find justification in what’s happening to her as she grows up and adapts to the ever changing dynamics in her family and community - I think that’s something everyone can understand at a personal level in one way or another.
This novel does a beautiful job at showing how our relationship with grief is not linear but rather something that follows us throughout our lives like a shadow, effecting everything we think, do, and become.
Graphic: Animal death, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Self harm, and Violence
graviereads'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
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Incest, Self harm, Sexual content, and Excrement
Moderate: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Suicide, Vomit, and Suicide attempt
annniina98's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Incest, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Abortion
erikwmj's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Excrement, Grief, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Abortion
phoebewerling's review against another edition
Graphic: Incest and Grief
judythedreamer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
jadereads_'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
4.25
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Incest, and Sexual content
ficteon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Still it made me keep reading to find out what happens to the child mc. I also get why it was gross in someway, as it is meant to be uncomfortable and traumatic, and it's about what grief does to you if you handle it the wrong way. Though.. why would you ever want your name to be on this book? I wonder why she wrote this.
It was still interesting, but for it's contents I don't think I can give it higher than a 3, but also not lower as the story did make me invested, and it was a horror read as said before. If you plan on reading this, do it now and not in other months. Or if you love gross books, go ahead, this one is really gross.
Though the Dutch culture, and Christian Dutch culture was fun to read throughout this book as someone who comes from that culture. Lot of recognizable things mostly from my siblings memories. I think my brother is born the same year as the MC. I would've been born around the time of the book.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Grief
Moderate: Cursing, Pedophilia, and Gaslighting
Minor: Blood
stockholmsara's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
1.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Grief
leahhateshardbacks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
•••
After their brother dies, Jas and her 2 remaining siblings experience grief in different (but equally unsettling) ways. Jas becomes anxious, compulsive, and submissive; Hanna becomes a pleasure and thrill seeker; Obbe becomes violent and sexually abusive. This book suggests the strange and varied ways grief can manifest itself in a cold and controlled environment, with emotionally unavailable parents and a fruitless and frigid landscape.
•••
What happens in this book is nothing short of fucked up. I thought I became somewhat desensitised to these sort of events but then something even more fucked up than the last thing would happen and my apparent comfort would be obliterated. I did not have a nice time reading this. I was uncomfortable about 80% of the time. It was certainly unique and perhaps I would return to it in a few years time - but I need the shock of not knowing anything about this before reading it to settle for a while.
•••
Amongst all the chaos there are some achingly true comments on grief and loss, my favourite, "Every loss contains all previous attempts to hang on to something you didn't want to let go of anyway, from a marble bag filled with the most beautiful marbles and rare shooters, to my brother."
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Incest, Sexual assault, and Violence