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dorynickel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sometimes the characters seem not fully fleshed out, but then the two main characters' respective malleability and opaqueness are so intentional that I can't really take away points for this.
Above all, Waters' prose and storytelling are what makes this book stand out within the oft-derided "girly novel" genre. (Although it did take me a chapter or two to get used to the journal framing, with its varying syntaxes and mixed tenses.) I will admit that I didn't take this book seriously enough at first, and I was pleasantly surprised by the mastery with which Waters weaves the substance of the story and its candid prose together with the tropes inherent in its subject matter. Give yourself permission to take a sapphic Victorian Gothic mystery ghost novel seriously, and you're in for a real treat!
Graphic: Classism, Mental illness, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide
Minor: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia
quechaya's review
3.5
Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Minor: Rape, Pregnancy, Child death, Death of parent, Abortion, and Body horror
nialiversuch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Confinement, Drug use, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Abortion and Child death
Minor: Alcohol and Terminal illness
ehmannky's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm
Moderate: Confinement and Mental illness
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Cancer, and Sexual assault