Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Wonderland by Juno Dawson

3 reviews

kajoreads's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

The good:

–The premise and the setting were interesting.

–I enjoyed a lot of the commentary around transness.

–the Alice in Wonderland retelling aspect was fun.


The bad:

–There were some weird jokes and descriptions that came across like microaggressions.

–The mental illness rep was questionable.

–I wish the MC’s internalized misogyny was addressed better.

–Overall, the book simply didn’t live up to my expectations. The synopsis had me hoping for an investigative mystery. This wasn’t that.

–The resolution was underwhelming.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Self harm, Suicide, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Abandonment, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Transphobia, Alcohol, and Death

Minor: Racism, Deadnaming, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Biphobia, Ableism, Violence, and Blood

thebookishnerd_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

This was my first Juno Dawson book! And while I'll definitely check out more of her books, I was underwhelmed by Wonderland. It's very reminiscent of the TV show Euphoria - rich teens doing drugs, having sex, and getting away with criminal activity. So much of this book was our main character, Alice, doing drugs that it watered down the plot and I found myself skimming over her 'trips'. I love unlikeable characters and this book was full of them. Almost all of the characters are spoiled rich teens they kind of blended together, especially the 'flower girls' which I suppose was the point of them. I liked this book, I just wish there was more plot and less focus on the pointless edgy activity. There are a lot of trigger warnings for this book, so definitely check them out before reading.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Mental illness, Violence, Vomit, and Sexual content

Moderate: Deadnaming, Suicide, Classism, and Alcohol

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Transphobia, and Abandonment

lucystolethesky's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Self harm, Deadnaming, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Outing, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Death, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Body shaming, Violence, Bullying, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Transphobia