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racbuckallew'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
4.0
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Suicide
scmiller's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
Graphic: Death, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Sexism, Abandonment, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, War, Body horror, Bullying, Infertility, and Death of parent
Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Car accident
seventhswan'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
4.75
I do wish the novel hadn't opened with
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Animal death and Child death
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, War, and Homophobia
deedireads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This is a tricky book to review. It definitely wasn’t want I expected, even though the synopsis paints a fully accurate picture of the events of the book. It’s told from a woman named Agnès’ perspective, fully in flashback as she tells us about her (not very healthy) childhood friendship with a dynamic young woman named Fabienne.
Ultimately, this ended up in a “liked a lot” instead of a “loved” category for me. I think it was just a little too much “and then, and then, and then” held away at juuuust a little too much distance. But also, the prose was excellent, and some of the philosophical musings Agnès tugs from her experiences are really striking. There’s a lot to unpack here about girlhood and girlhood friendship, plus class and generational class changes. I will definitely be reading more of Yiyun Li’s work, and I’m excited that she’s on the Booker Prize judging panel this year.
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Animal death
graceesford'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
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and War
rubyhosh's review against another edition
4.25
Minor: Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Infertility
hilaryreadsbooks's review against another edition
4.0
In a small, rural town of France, two girls, Agnès and Fabienne, create their own private worlds. Fabienne—willful, unruly, and unsettling to all but Agnès—dreams up games and imaginary experiences that reality can’t hold, and Agnès follows along dutifully and with a strange obsessiveness. Eventually, Fabienne dreams up a new game, writing a book filled with morbid tales, a game that will have startling effects in the real world and send Agnès on a whirlwind adventure based upon deceit and lies.
I loved Li’s different portrayals of exploitation. There’s exploitation of children by adults, both by the public and in private. There’s exploitation of children by children. And there’s also the exploitation of cold, cold reality on childlike dreams—a coming-of-age, you can say, or the most terrible way to realize that magic and happy endings and the complete freedom to stretch out are never real.
Pick up if you’re interested in sharp psychological unravelings, a strong narrative voice, and perhaps Ishiguro’s THE REMAINS OF THE DAY.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Child death and War