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williamelias24's review against another edition
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
mancthulhu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
gg_reads_books's review
4.0
A well-written, bloody, unsettling, weird-magic satire focusing on the MFA experience. While the writing was incredibly enjoyable, Awad focused more on the satire than the flow and logic of the story. Samantha passively moves between scenes (a critique the is self-referentially made in a very weird scene preceding the story's climax), and the weird magic doesn't quite match up in every scene. There is not quite enough horror or magic realism for this story to be solidly in those genres. It is most focused on the satire, which I might guess is fueled by experiences Awad has had herself.
sas_lk's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
"Can I just say I loved living in your lines and that's where I want to live now forever?"
Okay so I tried to not like this book, but I just really did. I loved descending into insanity with the characters, I loved questioning reality, I loved being transported into someone else's imagination - the author's and the main character's.
To me this was about love, about loneliness, and about acceptance. Sometimes the world can make us feel like we're going insane - that we're insane in a world of the sane, or that we're the sane in a world of the insane.
The more I think about it, the more I love this novel. I want to write a book like this.
Okay so I tried to not like this book, but I just really did. I loved descending into insanity with the characters, I loved questioning reality, I loved being transported into someone else's imagination - the author's and the main character's.
To me this was about love, about loneliness, and about acceptance. Sometimes the world can make us feel like we're going insane - that we're insane in a world of the sane, or that we're the sane in a world of the insane.
The more I think about it, the more I love this novel. I want to write a book like this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Violence, and Gaslighting
white_flame69's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- 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
noahlucas's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
skybookshelf's review
5.0
"A song I used to hate that I loved surround-sounds my soul. It is a song about nightmares dressed as daydreams, about trading your soul for a kiss. I think not this song, never this song, but my soul is already singing along, riding its swells like an ocean wave, shimmering."
If you mixed a secret history with mean girls and a lot of erratic behavior in a book, that book would be like this one.
A brilliant satire. This book is completely weird and unhinged in the best way possible. I saw people describing this book as a fever dream and all I have to say is that that's probably the best way to describe it.
If you mixed a secret history with mean girls and a lot of erratic behavior in a book, that book would be like this one.
A brilliant satire. This book is completely weird and unhinged in the best way possible. I saw people describing this book as a fever dream and all I have to say is that that's probably the best way to describe it.
yulande's review against another edition
Actually what the fuck. It was so entertaining to read, but I’m left with so many questions what actually happened due to the narrator being so unreliable, making it hard to tell what is real and what is her imagination and what are drugs speaking