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leexpenandpages'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
3.75
Struggling with all-consuming rage, Jane North-Robinson feels chilled by more than just the autumn air when she and her mother move to her mother's childhood home, where Jane must dig up her mother's secrets to understand what is happening.
πππΉππͺ¦π»π©βπ§ππ
ππ» RECOMMENDATION:
π READ IF you've got nothing else, if it works for a reading challenge, etc.
π¬ FAVORITE QUOTES:
β’ Pg. 201
do books taste like roses?
A flash of the earth with everything destroyed except this house, the last building standing, and Jane within it, trapped inside its walls, not really caring anymore whether she made it out or not.
She imagined the words dissolving off the paper and sinking into her bloodstream. She imagined her body filled with words. Made up of them. Words instead of blood, words instead of organs.
π FORMAT:
π
π COMMENTS:
β’ The main characters are complex and flawed. Jane's friends are heartwarming and supportive.
β’ Jane is frustrating slow to figure out what happened, leaping to illogical conclusions for the sake of continuing the mystery.
β’ I mostly agree with the Booklist quote on the back, which reads, "Leno blends Agatha Christie and Shirley Jackson for a narrative that ranges from unsettling to genuinely terrifying." (I did not find the narrative terrifying but otherwise agree.)
β’ The book starts a little too slow, and it ends a little too quickly, but the middle is well-paced.
β’ Race is poorly represented. Some of the characters seem like they were originally intended to be POCs but were changed to white or the author used POC aesthetics. The black characters are black only in description of skin tone.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Bullying, Murder, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Grief, Addiction, and Mental illness
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Pregnancy, Animal death, Violence, Self harm, and Cursing
Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Blood, and Classism
greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Death, and Pregnancy
booksofautumn's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Mental illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Suicide attempt, Violence, Bullying, and Suicide
keen's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Bullying, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Child death
Minor: Pregnancy
uraveragelesbianreader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Murder and Pregnancy
kris386's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Grief, and Mental illness
Moderate: Pregnancy and Suicide
halopink's review
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Unfortunately the story itself was pretty forgettable. I was really digging this book but wasnβt a big fan of the ending.
Graphic: Child death and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, Bullying, and Death
Minor: Self harm and Pregnancy
mapscitiesandsongs's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death and Death
Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, and Mental illness
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pregnancy, and Suicide
michaela999's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I had devoured this book.
It was delicious. It was bizzare. It was horrid. And i love it from the first bite.
There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead
And when she was good
She was very, very good
But when she was bad
She was horrid
She couldnβt remember the first book she had eaten.
What it had tasted like, how it had feltβthe scratch of it as it slid down her throat.
She couldnβt remember why sheβd done it. She must have been a baby, a toddler, ripping pages out of a picture book about a talking stuffed animal.
Had the smell of books calmed her down then, as it did now?
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Body horror, and Pregnancy
acrosspages's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Mental illness, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Blood, Suicide, and Murder
Minor: Vomit