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wooblatoober's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
zevin does an AMAZING job of showing how people and their relationships change over time. it’s crazy how much my opinions on the characters changed over time, waxing and waning and flipping between them.
this book reads like creative nonfiction. it’s remarkable. my only small complaint is a major spoiler (everything i’ve marked “spoiler” is a major spoiler though), and that’s basically the end of the book. tl;dr for the spoiler, i felt like the ending was just over the line of a little bit too late in the back-and-forth of the story to feel satisfied by it. i felt empty at the end like i do out of all the best books, but that emptiness came from events that happened before the ending of the book, and the ending was overshadowed by that and felt too little too late.
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Antisemitism, and Cultural appropriation
maggiemcgrath'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
4.25
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
audreytrml'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
4.25
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
dani794's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
og rating: 3.5
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
asacco9642's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Infidelity, Rape, Car accident, and Abandonment
Minor: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
rown99's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Overall, I think the first half of the book is compelling, the second half is a bit of a slog. The premise was there but I feel like the author bit off more than she could chew with this one. Generally her prose is good but at times felt overly intellectual and out of place, please Zevin put down the thesaurus.
Minor: Cancer, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Cultural appropriation
maura_kathleen'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
4.25
Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
millie_kawakami'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
5.0
Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Car accident, Death of parent, and Cultural appropriation
sierracharlie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
I’ve never read anything like this before. As a mystery and romance reader I don’t understand the lack of finality in the ending but I enjoyed reading their story even if a little infuriating at times.
Graphic: Death and Gun violence
Moderate: Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer
ksolesby's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail