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dwdillydally's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Suicide and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death and Drug use
cursedkirst'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? No
4.25
Moderate: Suicide and Drug use
stacy837'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
Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Child death, and Animal death
Moderate: Cursing and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, and Suicide
saskiahill's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Cancer, Grief, Animal death, Addiction, Suicide, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Death
leahjanespeare's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Child death and Grief
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Suicide
ehoustonmyatt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Suicide, Confinement, Death, and Addiction
alienguy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Animal death, Child death, and Suicide
Minor: Animal cruelty
aepritchard's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Suicide
socolorfull's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
First, the good: the Audiobook was fantastically narrated. Definitely a treat for your ears. The cast of characters was a loveable lot... Well... Mostly loveable. Cameron was annoying. Sweet little Tova stole the show, but the shopkeeper was a close second, and Tova's group of friends who loved her so much were just the sweetest bunch of elderly folks. I hope to have a group of friends like that when I'm a little old person. Jane was also a hoot. I even enjoyed Terry, the head boss of the aquarium, who we don't see much of but when we do see him, he seems like a nice, slightly eccentric guy.
Now, the bad: predictable. Which made it boring because why did it take so freaking long to get to the most predictable ending of all time? The book opens with all of these different, seemingly unrelated characters. I found it difficult to follow the jumping back and forth between the two groups of characters - the ones in California and the ones in Washington.
For those who enjoy the journey, and don't really care about a predictable story, I guess the journey is fine. I found it to be a little long, drawn out and boring, personally. The book takes FOREVER to get going. Was all that back story REALLY necessary? Like almost 50% of the book worth of back story?
I also wish Marcellus the Octopus had more of a presence. I felt like the book was billed as being narrated by an Octopus but I feel like 90% of the book was narrated by humans. I thought it was going to be all about the Octopus when, in fact, it was mostly about humans. I guess most people want to read about humans but I read a lot of stories about humans and have never read one about an Octopus so I was excited by that.
Anyways, I don't think it lived up to the hype but I'm in the minority (as usual) so give it a go if you want a sweet little story about finding family and love when you feel like you've got nobody and nothing.
If you like books with animal narrators, check out Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton. Do yourself the favor of pretending the sequel doesn't exist though - it's not really that good.
Minor: Drug use, Suicide, and Drug abuse
jasmine_aimable'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? It's complicated
2.5
Minor: Addiction, Suicide, and Child death