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toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It was complicated for me at times, reading about how much hate these fathers held for their sons' queerness. Complicated and painful to watch them grieve and reflect on the ways that they failed. It was also rewarding to read as the two fathers learned to accept what they didn't understand and also accept each other. I think the way that the learning came about seemed realistic to me, and of course they weren't perfect at any point throughout the whole book, but I don't think that was the goal. The characters are morally grey, and everyone is going to have a different stance on them, but I thought that they were interesting and often painful to read. This book took me longer than most books do, I feel, in part because of the brutality within the pages. This book is SO violent, y'all. I knew that it would be going in - after all, it is a story about revenge, but that didn't stop me from having to put it down and take care of myself once in awhile. I recommend that if you decide to pick this up, that you do the same!
BTW I found it so validating that I was picturing Buddy Lee as Sam Elliot and he is described as a Sam Elliot type more than once in the book!!
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Police brutality
alistinexo's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Death of parent
micklesreads'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
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
mdinkle1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
jscalli111999's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Racism, and Death of parent
stephbakerbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
That being said, there is A LOT of graphic violence in this book, and that is not my thing. Maybe I shouldn't let that affect my rating, but I did, though I was able to tune out the violent parts or skip ahead. The villains felt a bit like caricatures to me, and I think this was because our two main characters are very morally gray. But we're still supposed to root for them, so the villains have to be worse than these morally gray characters—and the only way to really do that is make them caricatures and make them do things that are irredeemable. Also, I figured out who the big bad was pretty early so that reveal was not a surprise.
Back to our morally gray main characters—they made me super conflicted. On the one hand, they're written in a way that makes them endearing and likable despite the terrible things they've done, and they do have growth and development throughout the course of the story. But I'm not convinced that they're actually good people by the end...I guess I just wanted them to take more responsibility for their actions and actually deal with the consequences instead of just seeking revenge as a way to redeem themselves.
Also none of the side characters get any real development and that is always a disappointment to me.
Anyways, this book does make you think and is great for conversation; I think I would have liked it more if it had been more character-focused instead of action/violence/plot-focused, but that's probably on me because the book wasn't pretending to be anything else.
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer, Deadnaming, Infidelity, Transphobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
grifgirl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
wai'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
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Cancer, Deadnaming, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Kidnapping, and Car accident
Minor: Excrement, Vomit, and Medical content