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frozenheartv's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
3 stars
🌕🌕🌕
🌕🌕🌕
🧠My thoughts
I’m very disappointed with this book. The premise was promising, the tension-building was done pretty well too, at least it kept me reading to see what was going to happen next. The prose was interesting to read because I haven’t seen this kind in many books but sometimes it could be dry and there were useless fancy words as well. However, it failed to deliver any meaningful details to me, it all fell flat at the end.
It felt to me that the book tried to be deep but couldn’t get there. Maybe there were too many things to talk about but nothing was resolved. The first half of the book felt a bit unrelated to the second half as well. The first half tried to dig into the problems related to racism, political issues, sexism, classism, and so on. However, the second half was more about the story itself, and how the situation developed.
I checked the movie right after reading the book and I thought the movie is far much better. At least, the movie explained why things in the book happened without the disturbing and unrelated sexual scenes. For example, in the movie they mentioned that Amanda’s work was all about convincing people to buy stuff they didn’t need so that she could sell stuff. This made her become a terrible person as she was, she just hated people and her work. Moreover, the scene where Clay abandoned the Spanish-speaking woman when she was begging him to help her lead to the fact that Ruth didn’t trust white people and she told G.H. to be careful with these people because they might abandon them too if things happened. Even the ending when Rose found the Friends DVD and sat there to watch the series ending was more meaningful. She told Archie before that the world was sad anyway, if there was something happened to it, at least, she wanted to know what happened to Ross and Rachel because Friends made her happy and she was done waiting. That was so relatable and made me feel nostalgic, in the book it was not portrayed like this. There were more things to talk about here but I think these details are enough to tell you that the movie makes more sense.
đź‘Ť What I like
- Interesting premise
- The prose when it’s bearable
đź‘Ž What I don't like
- Weird and unrelated sexual scenes
- Nothing is resolved, try to be deep but fail to do so
- Falls flat and the end
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Racism, and Vomit
mel_bee_421's review against another edition
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
The plot drives the book. Unfortunately, the plot is unrealized. There is random sexual imagery that is out of place. By the end I wasn't rooting for any of them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit and Racism
Moderate: Alcohol and Murder
Minor: Violence and War
phantomgecko's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
An interesting character study. I didn't like any of the characters. But their actions and thoughts were interesting to see.
Defos living lives that I cannot relate with.
idk, obvs the point of the book is the people and not what is happening to them, and their personalities are fleshed out and believable. I'd rather have read about what happened than these particular unlikeable character tho.
Defos living lives that I cannot relate with.
idk, obvs the point of the book is the people and not what is happening to them, and their personalities are fleshed out and believable. I'd rather have read about what happened than these particular unlikeable character tho.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Classism, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Racism
irinalast's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Dislike what is likely how most people would think, feel, and act when the worst happens. No one is a hero, not much hope in the end.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Toxic relationship, War, Grief, Alcohol, Medical content, Confinement, Terminal illness, Death, and Sexual content
ariparip's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-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
3.25
I think it would've been better if it had an ending!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Sexual content
Minor: War
ddclarke's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-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
3.25
A literary novel written to sound like a literary novel. Really love the concept and it was pulled off, but without anything that really stood out to me.
Likely hurt by having watched the movie first, which was very faithful and left me little to discover in the pages.
Likely hurt by having watched the movie first, which was very faithful and left me little to discover in the pages.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Vomit, Violence, Classism, Racism, War, Terminal illness, Death, Alcohol, and Suicide
robynbookworm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit and Blood
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, Racism, and Excrement
breshani7's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I do believe the movie did a better job with the character, Ruth. Amanda needed a stronger sparring partner to call her out on her biases and Book Ruth just didn't cut it.
Content Warnings
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Racism
franklola's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, Confinement, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Alcohol, Chronic illness, and Racism
Minor: Death, Death of parent, and Grief
elizabethtrue's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
It is painfully boring. I kept waiting for it to get better, but it never did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Vomit