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bisexualwentworth'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
4.5
I actually got this book at an event at my college a year and a half. Brandon Taylor read the first chapter, and I got a copy, and then I proceeded to not read it until now. But I follow him on Twitter, and I like his general persona and writing style, so maybe that affected some of my impressions of his novel.
Taylor’s writing really is gorgeous. I can’t remember the last time I marked so many beautiful or affecting lines in a book. And so much of this works beautifully, though I agree with other reviews that the last chapter felt like an odd note to end on in some ways.
It’s also a deeply pretentious book. And I’m okay with that! I’m a pretentious person in many ways, and I think fiction has the right to be pretentious and experimental and anything else it wants. But would this book, with all of its experiments with tense and point of view, have been published in this form, as a debut novel, if the author weren’t a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop? Would it have gotten as much critical acclaim? I don’t think it would have.
I do think that Brandon Taylor deserves that critical acclaim. I just think maybe there’s another conversation to be had there. Maybe.
I was prepared for this to be a very heavy book going in, and it was. I was also prepared for it to be relatively plotless, and it’s that too. Taylor’s writing—and Wallace’s inner life—is what carries it. If you like plot-driven stories, this one will not be for you.
I was not prepared for the presence of SO MANY nematodes. There are a lot of dying nematodes in this book thanks to Wallace’s grad school research.
Graphic: Sexual assault and Racism
Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Violence
Minor: Fatphobia and Vomit
jen_again'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
4.5
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Mental illness, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Pedophilia, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia
Minor: Animal death and Body shaming
leekaufman's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Pedophilia
Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Fatphobia
the_literarylinguist's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Minor: Fatphobia and Homophobia
lexi'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
4.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Fatphobia, Grief, Addiction, Body shaming, and Homophobia