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mynameisvesper'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? It's complicated
4.5
This all just felt honest, it hurt, it truly resonated with me- these little conversations we all had with family members in face of hardships, the impossible questions one asks themselves when a loved one keeps spiralling down, the frustration and fear when they are sick in the hospital, the way that grief comes and goes and how hard it is to move on (the passage about ‘shredding the guilt’ really struck me).
Toews serves beautiful prose, so authentic and sincere it almost feels like eavesdropping.
“Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard”
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, and Self harm
Moderate: Medical content, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, and Death
abbruzzese's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
She says isn’t it funny how every second, every minute, every day, month, year, is accounted for, capable of being named—when time, or life, is so unwieldy, so intangible and slippery? This makes her feel compassion toward the people who invented the concept of “telling time.” How hopeful, she says. How beautifully futile. How perfectly human.
another winner from miriam toews! it did not do to me emotionally what a complicated kindness or irma voth did, but it is still a fantastic book. i think what kept me from fully connecting to the story was just the age of the characters; being a 20 means i find it hard to relate fully to adults. however, that did not prevent me from crying all my mascara off.
a warning for anyone sensitive to suicide: this book has a lot of it. it's a main theme, written explicitly at times, and it's unavoidable. so just a heads up if you're wary about that kind of stuff!
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death, Grief, Medical content, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, and Sexual content
Minor: Eating disorder
rieviolet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
There were parts, here and there, that I liked but I felt as if the narration lost itself along the way; some sections I found very slow or just plain weird and nonsensical.
I struggled with the writing style the most, I think it is just a case of it not being my cup of tea. I found it confusing, a bit all over the place, I could not get used to it, especially the way the dialogues were integrated into the text and not signalled by punctuation.
Getting into it, I knew the book would deal with difficult and heavy topics, it's not as if I was expecting a lighthearted reading experience but still, it was a lot more graphic than I expected and at times unnecessarily so. If suicide is a difficult topic for you to read about, I suggest being kind to yourself and staying away from this book altogether.
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death, and Medical content
Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, Medical trauma, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror
Minor: Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug use, Cancer, and Murder
dannythestreet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Self harm, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Eating disorder, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Addiction, and Drug use
matildamundy'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: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Murder, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical content