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percyu's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Vomit, Drug abuse, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Death, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Child death, and Sexual violence
lanid's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Car accident, Drug abuse, Child death, Addiction, Alcohol, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Death, and Miscarriage
jayisreading's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Grief, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Child death, Dementia, Alcoholism, and Death
Moderate: Miscarriage, Racism, Car accident, Vomit, and Violence
Minor: Sexual violence and Blood
maceydowns'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: Death, Blood, Dementia, Addiction, Alcohol, Child death, Car accident, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Drug use, and Grief
just_one_more_paige'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? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Violence, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Grief, Racism, Alcohol, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Death, Cursing, Addiction, Drug use, and Pregnancy
readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Mental illness, Ableism, Drug use, Grief, Chronic illness, Racism, Death, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Child abuse, and Body shaming
Moderate: Car accident and Infidelity
Minor: Child death and Rape
Neglect, fraud, MMIWG2S, drowning, intergenerational trauma, baby addicted to methodone, postpartum depression,mcc004'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
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Grief, Dementia, Drug abuse, Death, Child death, Miscarriage, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Infertility, and Addiction
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Pregnancy
mscalls's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Alcohol, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Death, Drug use, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Grief, Medical content, Drug abuse, Racism, Vomit, Addiction, and Child death
alyssasaurus'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? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dementia, Excrement, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Abandonment, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, and Vomit
annemaries_shelves'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
3.5
Part of it probably was my incorrect expectation that there would be speculative elements, when it was actually a contemporary setting (that incorporated Penobscot Nation worldviews).
I really enjoyed actively reading the stories but found it easy to put down and I wasn't super motivated to pick it up every time. The writing was clear and strong and I think Talty will continue to improve and grow as a writer. My main issue with the collection is the sometimes confusing timeline. Because he opted to shuffle the order of stories out of linear time, it took a while to place each one when it was happening in our main character, David's, life. His character work was excellent, though, and even through limited third person persctive, I got a good sense of who each person in David's life was. I was rooting so much for David and his friends and family but things never really improved - frustrating but oftentimes realistic.
Overall, I don't think this will be a collection that sticks with me strongly (it's been a few days and I'm already losing details) but I will definitely keep an eye out for future works by Talty. I think this will work for a lot of people though, and encourage readers to seek it out if contemporary short stories tackling the lives of Indigenous (Penobscot) families and young men is of interest.
CW: The book came with a sticker for references to death, self-harm, and childhood trauma. I would also include on-page interrupted rape, drug use (especially prescription meds) and alcohol use, and infant death.
Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Alcohol
Moderate: Rape, Child death, and Death
Minor: Racial slurs, Mental illness, Medical content, Self harm, Violence, and Racism