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bisexualwentworth'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
4.25
The Last True Poets of the Sea is a book about grief. It’s about history. It’s about trauma. It’s about how people carry those things with them from generation to generation. It has some beautifully complicated and at times tragic sibling relationships. It has a teen sapphic romance that feels realistic for the characters and where they are in their lives.
It also has most of the things that one might expect from a Twelfth Night retelling: A love triangle, a shipwreck, a character named Toby, twins…
But all of those parts of the story are remixed to a degree that didn’t really make sense to me. The shipwreck and the twins (and the gender stuff) are in the past. The love triangle is completely different because Violet falls for Liv first and Orion is for some reason straight. Toby is Violet’s uncle rather than Liv’s. Most of the subplots are cut completely, which makes sense but was still sad (well, I didn’t really miss Malvolio, but I wanted a proper Sir Andrew character, goddammit!).
The book still works despite these changes to the source material, and they were obviously make deliberately. They just bugged me as a fan of the original play who enjoys seeing new takes on it.
I also have a couple little nitpicks:
Liv refers to herself and Violet as anagrams. This makes sense thematically, but the names Violet and Olivia are NOT anagrams. This was very confusing because the author could have actually given them names that used all of the same letters!
Also, this is a very white book. It makes sense because it’s set in small-town Maine—maybe the whitest part of the US—but why was Violet always remarking on the fact that random side characters were white people when she and all the other characters were also white people? Very odd.
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Homophobia
averyrembish's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Medical content, Outing, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Drug use, Homophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
seaslugchloe'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
4.0
Moderate: Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
truthfoundhere's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment
yvonne_cl's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
Moderate: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Cancer
cosmodeus_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, and Suicide
smolkeri's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Biphobia, Drug use, Medical content, and Car accident
reginacordium's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Medical content and Alcohol
Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Sexual content, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
foreverinastory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
CWs: Alcohol consumption (underage), alcoholism, drug use, eating disorder, mental illness (OCD), misogyny/slut-shaming, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt (off page, before the start), sexual content (not graphic).
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Alcohol
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
alouette's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
"I swam up, Violet. We both did."
a beautiful, lyrical, swimmingly fantastic novel. you can tell the author poured their heart into this book, into the achingly real and complex characters, into their relationships, and into the journey they undergo. it was difficult for me to read at first, painful and hitting too close to home, but that's the beauty of it, i suppose. i feel like a better person, more self-aware and more resilient, for the adventure this book took me on. even if the first half was painful and confusing, the second half was comforting and lovely.
"I'm saying our choices matter. Choosing to try... that's not a small thing."
Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Medical content, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Grief
Minor: Homophobia and Sexual content