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theloveofwordss'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? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Pregnancy
booksandtea997's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Abandonment, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Suicide
thereadingshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
libraryghost's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Abandonment, Car accident, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Blood
missy_reading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Project by Courtney Summer was published in Feb of 2021 by Wednesday books. Trigger warnings for suicide, cults, physical deformities, physical abuse, and parent death.
Never in my life have I read relationships about sisters that have felt more really than reading Courtney Summers books. I went into this book not knowing more than this was a book about sisters where one sister is a member of a cult and the other sister is trying to figure out how to get her out of it.
I felt like all of the main characters in this book were crafted so well and The Unity Project itself felt so real. I felt like Bea and Lo’s relationship was laid out so well to show how much they mean to each other from page one. When we start seeing the parts of Bea’s story where Lev starts showing up it is so obvious to the reader in my opinion how much of a manipulator this person is.
I felt like the way that the “cult” was handled was very true to what you read about some of the more well know cults in recent years. The charismatic man who is receiving visions from God and who wants to pull their followers away from the world. This part of the story just really pulled me in and had me speaking out to the characters that I didn’t think Lev was all he seemed.
Lo as a character took such a big turn through out the whole story that was so refreshing to see. I thought that the way her feelings and thoughts about the unity project changed as she was researching them made complete sense to the story.
I think if you like stories like The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni I think you will enjoy this book as well.
I gave this book 5 stars and will be reading more by this author very soon.
Graphic: Physical abuse
Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt
Minor: Death of parent and Death
cults, physical deformities, physical abuse, and parent death.lisacanteven'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
3.5
The cult vibes were great though, so I rated it higher than I would have normally I think. I wanted a cult book, and I got one. It was pretty predictable the whole time, even without as much context as we deserved as readers. I didn't love it, but I didn't dislike it as much as I was expecting based on other reviews. I'm not sure I would read another book by this author though.
Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic relationship
mmikadze's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Torture
Moderate: Child abuse
kbergsten'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
Graphic: Car accident, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence
gbyd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Torture, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Car accident, Cursing, Kidnapping, and Panic attacks/disorders
maiagaia's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
The final chapter was absolutely stunning. A total gut punch. Tragic and hopeful at the same time: a deadly combination.
I loved Lo as a character. I understood her. I got where she was coming from. Until I didn't. To be more specific, once Lo starts palling around with the cult, I intellectually understood what the author was trying to do, but I don't think the execution was successful. Lo went from being supremely distrustful of every member to trusting them so quickly it gave me whiplash. It started out as the members slowly wearing her down and winning her over and then BLAM she's convinced her sister was a manipulative liar the whole time. The groundwork was there for another 50 or so pages of her struggling with herself and
being manipulated into the position she ended up in, but it moved too quickly and ultimately felt cheap and rushed.
The climax was simply not good. I'm not sure if you can even call it deus ex machina because the character doesn't even remember how they got out of their situation. It is textually written off as god intervening? Which I guess means it literally is deus ex machina...... Which is to say: lame. And this is coming from someone who LOVES a Greek tragedy.
Ultimately, I didn't realize this was YA, and I don't think I would have picked it up if I had. I only mention this because I think many of the issues I had could have been fixed by adding more pages and diving more into the characters' internal worlds, neither of which are fair expectations for a YA book, imo. The adult and YA markets have different expectations, and when expectations don't match reality, it's tough for the book to make up that ground.
The audiobook was good. The narrators were distinct enough for me even when I cranked it up to 2x speed for the last quarter or so.
Overall, I enjoyed this read (mostly) and don't regret picking it up. It was a quick listen that I got through in a single work day, so I can't complain.
Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Suicide
Moderate: Abandonment, Car accident, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Torture, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Murder