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sadig27's review
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Infertility, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Grief, Medical content, Alcohol, Medical trauma, and Child death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Vomit, and Panic attacks/disorders
shoohoob's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Child abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Homophobia, and Mental illness
knkoch's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Yikes! I found this extremely sinister and disturbing. It was quite different from other contemporary family dramas I’ve read. It’s also the first audiobook I’ve listened to in ages; the narration was great, but perhaps hearing a woman say out loud the dialogue and inner monologue of the main character made this especially chilling.
I suppose this felt like a very accurate portrayal of difficult people, and of selfish, irresponsible personalities. I can’t say I truly enjoyed the reckless ride, although it was certainly a gripping story. I wavered between empathy and distaste for the characters, similar to my discomfort with White Ivy. I’m curious to see if I can find any interviews where Kristen Arnett talks about her goals for this book. If you’re into very dark, twisted literary fiction, this one’s for you!
I suppose this felt like a very accurate portrayal of difficult people, and of selfish, irresponsible personalities. I can’t say I truly enjoyed the reckless ride, although it was certainly a gripping story. I wavered between empathy and distaste for the characters, similar to my discomfort with White Ivy. I’m curious to see if I can find any interviews where Kristen Arnett talks about her goals for this book. If you’re into very dark, twisted literary fiction, this one’s for you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, and Mental illness
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Physical abuse
Not trying to tick all the boxes, but this touches on quite a few difficult subjects.undeniableemg's review
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- 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
4.75
a bracing, acerbic portrait of someone trying to be a decent mother and a decent lesbian and spectacularly failing at both
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
Minor: Rape, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Mental illness, and Pedophilia
abbie_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
So messy, I loved it! I’ve not read a book with these dynamics before - two women raising their son, older lesbians with relationship troubles and addressing the ugly parts of raising a child. It’s difficult being in Sammy’s head sometimes as she continues to make terrible decision after terrible decision, but I just love narratives about parents being open and honest with their struggles about their kids, and how it feels to not like your kid (I don’t have kids lol).
Reminded me a bit of We Need to Talk About Kevin, but not as dark! I also didn’t see the point in the page-long interludes told from the POVs of extremely minor characters who come into contact with Sammy throughout the novel. They felt like a creative writing exercise, something that the author jotted down while writing to make her main characters seem more 3D but then accidentally included.
But still a very good read especially if you love a messy book
Reminded me a bit of We Need to Talk About Kevin, but not as dark! I also didn’t see the point in the page-long interludes told from the POVs of extremely minor characters who come into contact with Sammy throughout the novel. They felt like a creative writing exercise, something that the author jotted down while writing to make her main characters seem more 3D but then accidentally included.
But still a very good read especially if you love a messy book
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Kidnapping
anxiousnachos's review
dark
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
4.5 stars.
Did I turn almost 30 and then start unintentionally reading several books that examine the horrific monstrosity of motherhood, my deep fear of having a child when you are clearly not suited to having one, and cementing my desire to not have children.
This is incredible storytelling, despite the lack of plot. It is a character study of a mother through her eyes as she raises a son she hates (and loves) in unequal measure. Interspersed with short extracts from characters who witness the events unfold around this family, we see the story of a queer family revealed in new light. It is a visceral and humid study of the unreliable narrator, expertly told. Very dark and very horrific and had me on the edge of my seat in horror throughout. It has cemented Kristen Arnott as one of my favourite contemporary writers.
Content warnings: emotional and financial abuse, toxic relationship, child abuse, cheating, animal cruelty, sexual assault, attempted kidnapping
Did I turn almost 30 and then start unintentionally reading several books that examine the horrific monstrosity of motherhood, my deep fear of having a child when you are clearly not suited to having one, and cementing my desire to not have children.
This is incredible storytelling, despite the lack of plot. It is a character study of a mother through her eyes as she raises a son she hates (and loves) in unequal measure. Interspersed with short extracts from characters who witness the events unfold around this family, we see the story of a queer family revealed in new light. It is a visceral and humid study of the unreliable narrator, expertly told. Very dark and very horrific and had me on the edge of my seat in horror throughout. It has cemented Kristen Arnott as one of my favourite contemporary writers.
Content warnings: emotional and financial abuse, toxic relationship, child abuse, cheating, animal cruelty, sexual assault, attempted kidnapping
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Sexual assault
belovedb33's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This (audio)book had me gasping multiple times. When I didn’t think it would go there, it did. I really enjoyed the complexity of the characters and seeing how time impacted the family dynamics.
When I finished the book, I still had plenty of questions. When did Sammie move out? What happened with Monika and Megan? These aspects that seemed to be so important to the plot were just forgotten at the end.
I wish that I could have gotten Samson’s or Monika’s perspective at the end— I think that would have allowed for a conclusion to many of the plot strands that were just left hanging.
When I finished the book, I still had plenty of questions.
I wish that I could have gotten Samson’s or Monika’s perspective at the end— I think that would have allowed for a conclusion to many of the plot strands that were just left hanging.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Animal cruelty and Kidnapping
mlovesbooks's review against another edition
I have been trying to finish this book for months but it just isn't for me. I'm not in the right mindset to read this kind of thing right now.
I couldn't help but feel so angry and frustrated. I assume that's the intention; you shouldn't like our main character, but it was too much.
Maybe I'll eventually finish it but today is not that day.
I couldn't help but feel so angry and frustrated. I assume that's the intention; you shouldn't like our main character, but it was too much.
Maybe I'll eventually finish it but today is not that day.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse
toofondofbooks_'s review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sammie Lucas is a lesbian mother who, on the surface, has the perfect queer family unit. A beautiful home, a wife she loves, Monika, and their son, Samson. Everything is perfect, except...Monika isn't around a whole lot, and if she's honest, she's afraid of her own son...
This book had me by the throat from the first sentence and then it wouldn't let me go for the next five days. It didn't matter what I was doing, I wanted to pick this up and shut out the world. Don't get me wrong, it's not a riveting tale or anything. It's not plot driven at all, it's mainly a character study of Sammie and how she's clearly very troubled and was never meant to be a mother. I hated her with every fiber of my being. I hated her on every page, every sentence. She was at best, whiny, and at worst, violent. It was crazy how unreliable of a narrator she was. She also struck me as someone who would go to a Planned Parenthood protest on the weekend, but I'm not going to tell you why.
I was so fascinated by this terrible character and her terrible interactions with her son and wife, fascinated by her dealing with religious trauma, her hypocrisy, her complete inability to connect with her son and then complaining about how he was suuuuch a problem. It was insane. The behavior of everyone in this book is absolutely unhinged, but Sammie takes the cake.
It's safe to say this book had my attention, but that being said, the writing wasn't really remarkable and the references to teeth (other people's teeth, what Sammie's teeth were doing, biting, etc) seemed a bit shoe-horned in and obvious at times. I also thought I was going to combust at times at how ableist the treatment of Samson as a character was. You can chalk that up to his parents being bad people - and they are, but it was just too much for me and it made me *too* angry.
Anyway I know that I'm probably going to read a lot of GR reviews calling this bad lesbian rep, but sometimes even queer people are bad and unhinged, and I think it's important to write about that. Argue with the wall. Overall, a really intriguing read.
I forgot to mention that there are little vignettes at the end of every chapter that show contrast between how Sammie sees certain situations happening in a chapter vs. what an outsider experiences and I think they were genuinely my favorite part of the book and I can't believe I didn't mention this somewhere above. Oops! Here it is.
This book had me by the throat from the first sentence and then it wouldn't let me go for the next five days. It didn't matter what I was doing, I wanted to pick this up and shut out the world. Don't get me wrong, it's not a riveting tale or anything. It's not plot driven at all, it's mainly a character study of Sammie and how she's clearly very troubled and was never meant to be a mother. I hated her with every fiber of my being. I hated her on every page, every sentence. She was at best, whiny, and at worst, violent. It was crazy how unreliable of a narrator she was. She also struck me as someone who would go to a Planned Parenthood protest on the weekend, but I'm not going to tell you why.
I was so fascinated by this terrible character and her terrible interactions with her son and wife, fascinated by her dealing with religious trauma, her hypocrisy, her complete inability to connect with her son and then complaining about how he was suuuuch a problem. It was insane. The behavior of everyone in this book is absolutely unhinged, but Sammie takes the cake.
It's safe to say this book had my attention, but that being said, the writing wasn't really remarkable and the references to teeth (other people's teeth, what Sammie's teeth were doing, biting, etc) seemed a bit shoe-horned in and obvious at times. I also thought I was going to combust at times at how ableist the treatment of Samson as a character was. You can chalk that up to his parents being bad people - and they are, but it was just too much for me and it made me *too* angry.
Anyway I know that I'm probably going to read a lot of GR reviews calling this bad lesbian rep, but sometimes even queer people are bad and unhinged, and I think it's important to write about that. Argue with the wall. Overall, a really intriguing read.
I forgot to mention that there are little vignettes at the end of every chapter that show contrast between how Sammie sees certain situations happening in a chapter vs. what an outsider experiences and I think they were genuinely my favorite part of the book and I can't believe I didn't mention this somewhere above. Oops! Here it is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Body horror, Sexual content, Grief, Misogyny, Animal death, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Cursing, Child abuse, Child death, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Miscarriage and Murder
Minor: Pedophilia and Rape
sshabein's review
challenging
dark
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This books is fantastically written, with super-real characters, but WOW did some of that super-realness set me on edge! This is not at all the fault of the book, but every time I think I want to read something about centering around the stresses of parenting, there's always at least 2 people in the book who I know I'd severely dislike in real life. I can't take performative parenting, and when you mix that with people who never say what they actually want, it's a lot! Of course, I definitely don't read books looking for likable people, and these characters are all written SO well, but I was so stressed! So, yes, great book, but I was glad it wasn't a long book, if that makes sense.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty