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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
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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