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drmcsweetness's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
tossevent'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
3.0
To start I think it's quite well written. At the same time I do feel that the author tends use these run-on sentences that makes it difficult for me to understand who specifically she's speaking about. It's mostly an issue with sentence structure/grammar for me. But on the other side, she is a master at crafting a specific atmosphere that casts a wide shadow throughout the whole book. And I speak of this shadow not necessarily in terms of the book's content (although it certainly applies here) but just the way she creates the environment envelops the story.
She does an excellent job of putting you in Jude's mind and justifying his actions. He is a very well developed character but unfortunately almost the only developed character. Although she does a good job developing the rest of the cast, they really only serve as devices to Jude's life. Understandably, that was the author's project and vision. Unfortunately, as impressive as her writing is, the topic did not interest me or draw me in. It's extremely provocative but I never find myself unable to put the book down. There are many specific instances where I find topics that are indeed interesting and felt even relatable: Harold's little monologue about having children was an interesting exploration of the topic, even some of Jude's actions can be relatable (coming from someone with minimal trauma in their life) but it is really only these specific cases that I find interesting. Jude as a whole, as a character (and thus this book) are not a topic of my interest. For me it would have been a more effective story if we delved into the side characters much more. I wanted to see more between the 4 main characters throughout the book but really after the first quarter of the book we hardly see JB and Malcolm anymore.
My other nitpick is that her descriptions of travel can get long-winded and add no value for me. I think it's a great device because she inserts so much of this glamor amidst 800 pages of slow-paced reading so you slowly forget about all the terrible things that happened to Jude-and this replicates the repression of his memories very effectively for the reader; at a certain point I also forgot about Caleb as Jude probably very much wanted to. But overall I found myself being almost bored by these descriptions. It was an effective device in a meta way - more for the reader than it was for the characters.
Is it trauma porn? Probably, but unfortunately it's so well crafted that I can't completely write it off as a terrible piece of literature. You could argue it's perhaps worse than bad literature because it has the ability to poison the mind. It certainly impacted my mind during the week or so I was reading it. My friend said "it's very well written but she could have kept all that to herself" and that's the best way to put it.
Overall: Impressive world crafting but uninteresting topic and some issues with writing style; it's a character study done very well that I'm not particularly interested in. [Side note: author also has a tendency to write about very similar topics... đźš© đźš© đźš© ]
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
you don't need to read itccheheche's review
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Death of parent, and Alcohol
harrys96'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
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
katykate's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
bookish2024's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Car accident
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, and Death of parent
ellesbigworld's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
appalachianaltuntas's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
brittelyza's review
- 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
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
purplepandajen'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
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail