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katerina_l'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Excrement, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Infidelity, Misogyny, Drug use, Body shaming, Classism, Death of parent, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Grief, Gore, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Stalking, Medical content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Body horror, and Sexual harassment
catch__up's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Addiction
Minor: Kidnapping, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Emotional abuse, and Medical content
nettles's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
You know that meme that's like "I don't stop at women's rights. I also support women's wrongs." Well that's this book
This book is a trainwreck you can't look away from. People with deep seated trauma coping extremely badly in different and completely disastrous ways.
The prose is witty, sometimes beautiful and sometimes viscerally disgusting. The main relationship is not romantic in the slightest and even somewhat worrying. I had no idea where the book would go.
Oddly leaves off on an anticlimactic ending that I felt I didn't understand. But otherwise very memorable and I love a good psychological analysis of a messed up character
Graphic: Infidelity and Sexual content
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Suicide, Blood, and Drug use
Minor: Excrement
silver_lining_in_a_book's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Greta considered her own behaviour around red flags. Her habit was not to ignore them so much as to ingest them, a somewhat laborious mental production that involved placing them in a stockpot with butter, herbs, and mirepoix; cooking over low heat without browning; adding red meat, additional red flags, a jug of red wine; and voilà, four hours at a lazy simmer later, an extremely rich red-flag stew that she forked into her mouth every day like a fucking moron, sometimes for years on end.
Oh no... I hate to do this but I should have seen the signs when in the first few pages we were making horribly racist comments (particularly about Japanese and Chinese people), making fun of anorexics (trigger warnings would have been appreciated) and strangely glamorising suicide.
I had such high expectations for this book! It had so much potential when it came to humorously discussing some very morbid and taboo topics but instead, it turned into a very uncomfortable semi-erotic, semi-thriller novel. It failed at the thrill, it failed at the romance, it failed at the eroticism and it did not even begin the discussion of important topics like relationships, infidelity, suicide, depression, therapy and trauma.
I am not sure I have ever given a book 1 star, but there is a first time for everything and I believe it is well deserved in this case. The 1 star is being awarded solely to the beautiful US cover and its designer; it's the only thing Big Swiss has going for it. I am so incredibly thankful I decided to check this out of the library because I would have probably torn the sex-scene pages out if it were my own copy... they were so unpleasant to read. Not to mention that I am generally fine with erotic scenes! I will never be able to get the image of a slightly moist origami rose between a woman's peach-fuzz-covered legs out of my head. Thank you, Jen Beagin, for making me hate both origami and peaches now (though the latter was ruined by Call Me By Your Name a while ago).
Anyway, I somewhat regret pushing through this sorry excuse for literature, but at least I can confidently say that it sucked and I truly truly TRULY do not understand the hype here... how many trees have been sacrificed for this exactly? I would like to petition for their restoration; they didn't deserve this.
Graphic: Vomit, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Excrement, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Racism, Blood, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Sexism, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Addiction, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Mental illness, Death, Cursing, Violence, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
sestout's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Gore, Alcohol, Suicide, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Violence, Cursing, Sexual content, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gun violence, and Mental illness
Moderate: Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Addiction, Gaslighting, Rape, and Sexual assault
Minor: Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Bullying, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, Cancer, Eating disorder, Ableism, and Abandonment
finleyfrogreads'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
4.75
Graphic: Suicide, Stalking, Drug use, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Excrement, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Animal cruelty, Blood, Addiction, and Child abuse
dixiecarroll's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Infidelity, Blood, Rape, Excrement, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Physical abuse, Self harm, Addiction, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gore, Misogyny, and Stalking
danimacuk'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and Stalking
Minor: Drug use, Excrement, Outing, and Addiction
lauracollins096's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Infidelity, Suicide, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Violence
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Grief, Biphobia, Lesbophobia, Death of parent, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Stalking, Addiction, and Blood
Minor: Miscarriage, Eating disorder, Excrement, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry
sammietee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Stalking, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Excrement, and Suicide