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fishindices'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
4.75
Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Homophobia
greta_reads'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
2.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
kascjam's review against another edition
2.0
I finished this book in roughly a day and a half. Not because I was so enamored by the story or anything, but because it was genuinely so depressing I had to know if there was some shred of hope that might be presented in the end. I cried more times than I could count, which. I guess that counts for something. Points for evocative writing, I guess?
But um, seriously, any depressing thing you can imagine happening to someone, it happens in this book. I'm not even joking. At some point I thought to myself, Jesus Christ. Well, at least it can't get any worse, right? And then it got worse.
And the ending? I'm still mad about it. I know the message it that like, the future is uncertain but we should appreciate what we have now, but what a letdown. Granted, as I mentioned before, I was reading this expecting something more inspiring than...whatever that was. But still. So much is still left unanswered -- and this book is somehow like four hundred pages!
Not to beat a dead horse here, but also, why the hell were there randomly scenarios in which the world ends just peppered in throughout the book? (Rhetorical question; I know why.) It was already sad, and it didn't add anything to the story, in my opinion, save for making me break down more than already was. And yes, I probably should have just taken the L and put the book down at some point, but I was so invested and certain the ending would be worth it that I couldn't get myself to.
Maybe under different circumstances, I would've enjoyed this book. I did like the overall concept, to be fair; it was just incredibly depressing for, as far as I could tell, no real reason.
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Miscarriage
louisallama'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
3.0
I think I found it very hard to connect with Henry is because the book felt quite juvenile. Usually I'm fine with YA but for whatever reason it really didn't work for me this time. I'm not sure why but I was just completely uninvested in Henry's life and emotions. He has multiple very big and real problems that are poinient even to adults, and yet he never got past feeling like a whiny teenager to me.
The other problem is that there are a whole slew of deep, existential questions that could come of finding out that aliens have given you the choice to stop the world from ending in 144 days and this book explores basically none of them. I understand that it was more used as a vehicle for Henry deciding whether he wanted to live, without the trauma of making an actively suicidal main character for the whole book, but he ends up being very blasé about it. The closest we got to Henry asking these questions of himself, was him asking the extremely obvious, "am I going to push the button" throughout the book, as well as asking every character what they would do if they knew the world was going to end but they could stop it, both of which are resolved every time within a paragraph or two. I would think that this is something that I would agonise over, especially if I wasn't fully swayed one direction or the other. And while Henry's life truly is a steaming pile of garbage, linking this back with not feeling connected to him, I never actually felt like he was suicidal at any point, or ever had any conviction to press or not press the button.
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Dementia, Grief, and Abandonment
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
sppixie's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Child death, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Miscarriage, Self harm, Vomit, and Outing
mary_jinxedit's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment
niteskyi'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: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Alcohol
souzy_q'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? No
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol
bookiesncreme's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse
Moderate: Miscarriage, Rape, and Suicide
mrbean's review
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Grief
Minor: Self harm and Dementia