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taibreakfast's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Eating disorder and Suicide
azk's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder
Minor: Infidelity, Grief, and Mental illness
xianliya's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- 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
I personally didn’t like the Plot. I didn’t like how the process was slow, there wasn’t much developement at all (aside from MC growing up) and the Ending was very open without any strings resolved.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abandonment
jackbifrost's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Eating disorder, and Infidelity
Minor: Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Death
limina's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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
I liked this book enough. Others described it as uneventful, I equate it to a slice of life genre like in anime and manga. I marked a content warning for ED, because her relationship with food could be triggering for some folks out there. I do like how Rose became as she grew up. The ending left me wanting more about her dad and Joseph's abilities. It's also just unclear to me if Joseph is only mentally ill or if his special ability has something to do with his disappearances. I know it's meant to be ambiguous but still .
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
Minor: Mental illness and Infidelity
sssssoup's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Okay so. What the fuck.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Grief, Infidelity, Eating disorder, and Medical content
Minor: Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, and Death
mixyplixl's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- 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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder and Mental illness
seawarrior's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.0
This is a really odd story, but one I practically fell into, as I read it in the course of one evening, only pausing to eat dinner. After finishing it, I'm left with a kind of melancholy emptiness. The most striking theme in this story to me is one of grief, both for youthful ignorance lost, and for realizing you never found the words to unlock your family members, the same people who sat alongside you and spoke to you daily for years upon years, and never really got to know the most important pieces to them, until suddenly you had run out of time. As confused as this book made me feel during some chapters, I think those are pains most of us can relate to, although we wish we didn't.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Dementia, Death of parent, Infidelity, Medical content, Toxic friendship, and Body horror
Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, and Eating disorder
bencaroline's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder and Mental illness
Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Addiction, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Body horror
The addiction I perceive in this book is so nontraditional, even magical, that I didn't give it more than a "minor" designation, but to me, the theme of addiction is pervasive. The disordered eating in this book is similarly magical, but because the book is centered around food and eating and the protagonist's struggle with these things, I marked it as 'graphic.'wike's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Honestly, it's been a few months since I read this, but it made a huge impression on me, but I saw there are a lot of negative reviews of this book I have to leave my thoughts here. I'm guessing you've read the summary, so I won't go into the premise. So, a few things: this is not a super-hero story. It's not about a girl who gets a superpower and then fixes everything. The gift of tasting peoples emotions in food (and not just that, she can taste the entire production chain, really) is treated much more as a disability most of the time. Which it is, if you think about it. She has to eat. But every time she does she has to deal with someone else's pain. A nice detail of a subtle coping mechanism is her love of vending-machines. This is a story of someone having to deal with acute involuntary empathy, isolation and a very complicated relationship with everyone in her family.
I personally spent this book just getting gradually more heartbroken for it's characters. I usually hate depressing books, but it's beautifully written, with great empathy and though the premise might invite cynicism, it never becomes the tone of the story. It has whimsy, but it's not a light read. Not for me at least. I bawled my eyes out towards the end of it, and there were a few moments that I found quite horrifying. Also, the magical realism is a bigger part of the story than you expect it to be in the beginning. But there's no radio-active spiders, magical theory or science-stuff explaining it, there's almost no testing the limits, no training-montages, there's no fighting some great evil. It's mostly just dealing with whatever it is this gift demands from you.
I personally spent this book just getting gradually more heartbroken for it's characters. I usually hate depressing books, but it's beautifully written, with great empathy and though the premise might invite cynicism, it never becomes the tone of the story. It has whimsy, but it's not a light read. Not for me at least. I bawled my eyes out towards the end of it, and there were a few moments that I found quite horrifying. Also, the magical realism is a bigger part of the story than you expect it to be in the beginning. But there's no radio-active spiders, magical theory or science-stuff explaining it, there's almost no testing the limits, no training-montages, there's no fighting some great evil. It's mostly just dealing with whatever it is this gift demands from you.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder and Grief
Minor: Suicide
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