Scan barcode
lovejasmine's review against another edition
- 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? No
2.0
Instead, we got the barest hint of that, with a very self centred, very white narrator that was, honestly, kind of boring.
The worst thing about this book was it wasn't bad. It just could have been incredible.
Graphic: Child death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gun violence, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Incest, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Abortion, Blood, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Violence, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Animal death, and Chronic illness
hmatt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Storytelling
I feel like the author was trying to fit too many events into too short of a narrative. This might have been okay, but there were so many minor events that I think we should have spent less time on, and a number of climactic events that we spent barely any time on whatsoever. A lot of these major events "fade to black" as soon as the action starts, and then we are caught up on what happened in retrospect later on - I was REALLY not a fan of this technique, and I don't think it made sense for the "western" genre.
Character-building
We do get a lot of information on most of the characters but, again, it's almost too much for how short of a book it is. What we lose out on, in my opinion, is a more profound emotional connection with the main character. We don't really dwell on her losses or feel them with her, which is extra strange given the whole novel is told in first-person.
TL;DR
The idea behind the novel is fantastic, but it tries to fit too much in. The concepts it seeks to explore are really only half-fleshed-out and the characters are hard to relate to, simply because the plot moves on too fast to hold space for these introspections.
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Medical content, Infidelity, Gun violence, Misogyny, Blood, Violence, Murder, Infertility, Sexual violence, Racism, Police brutality, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Torture, Sexism, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Gore, Miscarriage, and Mental illness
Moderate: Rape, Confinement, Transphobia, Classism, Gore, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault
Minor: Animal death and Drug abuse
CWs non-exhaustive