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podanotherjessi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
First, the writing style was totally off for me. The author wrote directly to the reader (literally, interjecting asides and addressing them to "dear Reader"). This took me out of the story every time. It also had the effect of making it seem like the story was being told almost as a first hand account, which got confusing given the multiple third person limited perspective. If the narrator was someone there, how could they possibly know what characters were thinking? If they weren't, then why did the writing style seem so conversational? It just really didn't work for me.
Second, the pacing was way off. This is meant to be - in part - about the filming of a movie, but they don't even start shooting until more than halfway through. That's also the first time the present story line even goes to Brookhants. It takes so long for anything interesting to get started, and by that point, I was so checked out of the book that it would have been a tremendous feat to reengage me.
Thirdly, and to be honest my biggest complaint, is that there were too many layers to this story. Instead of telling one story really well, this book ends up telling two and a half stories okay. There was not enough of Clara and Flo, and way too much of the current story. We never get Mary's story at all. I would have loved literally any one of these stories - Mary's memoir, the tragedy of the Brookhants school, or the movie - to be told in full and done really well. Instead, we have a disjointed layered story in which the book cuts away at awkward moments, events are skimmed over, and huge sections of each tale seem to have been cut away entirely.
In the end, this book was a bit of a mess that gets an extra star for pretty good characters and a really cool setting.
Graphic: Death
Minor: Suicide
achay91's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy
brookey8888's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Biphobia, Child death, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
jessiereads98's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This story is told with a very distinctive narrative voice. I enjoyed the humour and snark of it. I for one didn’t mind the footnotes. I can see how this voice and the use of footnotes might grate on some people though. I do wish the narration choice had been explained, as that seemed to be part of the story. I didn’t always care for the frequently repeated Mary MacLane quotes. Some of them worked, but at times it felt forced in and not relevant. I also didn’t understand the refusal to state the year of current timeline, then ultimately revealing it indirectly towards the end.
The sapphic relationships in both timelines play a starring role and it’s main characters are one of the most compelling parts. I enjoyed the relationship between our modern plain bad heroines the most. The relationship between Alex and Libbie was fine, but I found it boring and repetitive at times. I did appreciate the look at historical queer culture and relationships. The relationship between Flo and Clara which the book purports to be partially about is pretty much ignored which is disappointing. I would’ve much rather read about the original Plain Bad Heroines Society and that year at Brookhants from the students’ perspectives than Alex and Libbie’s perspective. Emily Danforth does do a great job comparing and contrasting the two timelines as foils throughout the book.
Unfortunately, side characters who are sorely neglected. I was left wondering throughout the book about Audrey’s mom, Merritt’s parents, and Elaine Brookhants and their stories. Emily Danforth couldn’t seem to decide whether to include these stories or not, so what I was left with as a reader was a bunch of pointless dangling threads.
Bringing things up to leave them unresolved is a common problem in this book. Harper’s family and relationships are brought up a few times, but there never seems to be any point or any furthering of the story surrounding them. Audrey’s friend Noel pops up on occasion seemingly just to tell Audrey that something is bad, as if Audrey and the readers couldn’t already tell. Details are brought up or events happen that are later just ignored or contradicted. There is a whole lot of nothing or wasted pages, which creates problems in pacing. This book drags through the middle and then rushes at the end.
I liked the ending while reading it, it’s immersive in the storytelling and makes sense on its own. However, it does make the previous 600ish pages seem pointless and leave multiple holes. The ending was almost completely unrelated to the story I read, and left several holes. In an ideal world, that ending would’ve been better set up for rather than spending the book on a completely different track not even able to see the track that the ending was on at almost any point. I was left with more questions than answers by the ending.
This did do some horror bits very well. There were times where I found myself legitimately a little scared while reading. Danforth’s use of metafiction to make it so the reader is left unsure along with the protagonist enhances the horror throughout the story.
While I enjoyed this for the most part, it was too long and had too much going on.
Graphic: Body horror and Death
Moderate: Drug use, Suicide, Vomit, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Alcoholism, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol
heather_harrison's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I loved the gothic vibe, cursed school, sapphic rep and creepy wasps. But my god this could have been shorter.
I found that while I enjoyed the two story lines, the 1900s was definitely stronger than the present day Hollywood. The ending looked like it was all going to interconnect, but it just fizzled out and was so disappointing.
+ 0.5 because the trifle scene made my physically cringe and internally scream.
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicide, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, and Stalking
horizonous's review against another edition
Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Suicide, and Death of parent
uhhlexiconic's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
Moderate: Car accident
fin_pilot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Lesbophobia
imrereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Keep in mind that this is horror! You may want to check the content warnings.
Graphic: Body horror and Death
Moderate: Biphobia, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Suicide
Minor: Fatphobia and Forced institutionalization
cchomps's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Death