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menomica's review against another edition
This book is really interesting and I was so invested and really wanted to get to know more about Emmet but oh my fucking god why the fuck are him and Tallie boinking??? In what way does that seem appropriate??? It just totally ruins everything. The book would’ve been so much more enjoyable if they were just friends. You don’t need to fuck just because you’re two hot straight people!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, and Death
Minor: Infertility and Sexual content
ashwiiguth3's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Suicide, Death, and Infidelity
ksgoetz's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Alcohol, Infertility, Death, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, and Infidelity
zamzamzebra's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Suicide
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Infertility
jackelz's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Fate is something I whole heartedly believe in, and that is definitely what brought these characters together.
This was a story I didn’t want to end. It was such a powerful, vibrant novel about the life-changing weekend shared between two strangers. It was uplifting yet heartbreaking; there was hope found in the most unlikely places; and you really see the magic of human connection.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Child death, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Infertility and Infidelity
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
ashyq's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Child death and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Racism
just_one_more_paige's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This is my second read from Cross-Smith. A few years ago I read, and unexpectedly really loved, Whiskey & Ribbons. It was an end of the year book for me then too and was a last minute addition to my "favorites of the year" 2018 list. Since then, I've meant to read the short story collection she's published, but I am not always in the mood for short stories, so I haven't gotten to it yet. However, when I saw that she had another novel coming out, this one, I was psyched and knew I'd be reading it sooner rather than later.
Driving home from work one evening, Tallie (a therapist), sees and stops Emmett from taking an action that would end his life. Over the course of the weekend that follows, Tallie and Emmett spend days together, sharing lots of "big talk" and inevitably becoming deeply tangled in each other's lives, yet purposefully holding each other at arm's length because they are, essentially, strangers. Emmett meets Tallie's family and leaves a lasting mark on them, while simultaneously enacting a ruse that will break her budding trust in him. Tallie does everything she can to help Emmett see that his life has meaning, if worth living, while hiding an essential fact about herself that will threaten his belief in her motives. And in back-and-forth-in-time perspectives, the reader is also given the unfolding events that led to Emmett's decision to end his life and the difficult realities Tallie has yet to fully reckon with in her own life.
Although this novel was so different, in so many ways, from Whiskey & Ribbons, there was a style and feeling to the writing that rang very similar. It seems that the sort of soft, gentle cadence to the words and the way the story unfolds, is a central characteristic of Cross-Smith's writing. Interestingly, although the art forms were differently used and experienced, the place that art itself holds in the lives of the characters and the emotional connections shared/created is another similarity between the two. Something about the way it's woven in just adds to the smooth, comforting flow of the writing; it sort of all just washes over you as a reader, bringing you along for an immersive ride. And despite the intensity of many of the events that occur within these pages, it was still a deeply soothing reading experience. A really impressive accomplishment and, as it's the second time, really proves that it's no fluke, that Cross-Smith is just that good.
There is one other literary detail worth mentioning, an internal stylistic device. Emmett's observations, or cataloging, of the details around him, as well as Tallie's mental therapy notes, are a really nice touch that gives something extra to the characters and, while it could easily be overdone, never felt that way for me. They both give an almost haunting quality to Emmett and Tallie's inner personhood throughout their time together and it adds something simple, but necessary, to their development.
Regarding the actual story, it was, as I said, quite intense. Really shouldn't be a surprise, considering the way Emmett and Tallie meet, but it ends up being so much more than that. Despite the lies (or truth-guarding, if you will) that they tell each other, the intentional miscommunications and misdirections and invasions of privacy (that aspect in itself was such a human part of the story, I couldn't get over the absolute real feeling of it), there is something impossibly tender in the way Emmett and Tallie are with each other. It is deeply affecting and had me emotionally invested in them together almost immediately. And while there is definitely a romantic tension to their character development in and around each other, that's too surface-level to appropriately describe it. So when there was follow through there, but then also not, that weird mix of completeness and dissatisfaction was exactly what I wanted from it.
Other than that, looking at the "side character" details, the integration of Tallie's extended family and ex-husband, as well as her yearning for a child, juxtaposed with Emmett's mysteriously absent family and, of course, the mystery of the "why" behind his suicide attempt, into this emotion-laden long weekend, were equally striking as facets of the Emmet and Tallie's story. (A note here, the suicide attempt, planning, ideation, bargaining/planning, is central to the novel and has a quiet intensity to it that hits all the harder because of it, deserving full-throated content warnings.)
It's the small things, the artistic touches, that make Cross-Smith's writing so good. I was just so softly blown away by this novel. The tender writing and story of Emmett and Tallie, ships passing in the night while leaving indelible marks on each other's lives/futures, was so emotionally raw and epicly poignant.
“Losing her nervousness made her feel reckless, and feeling reckless fed her recklessness, leading her to feel the scariest, most thrilling thing of all: free.”
“He could pretend to be someone else who was pretending to be someone else. The cracked husk of his heart inside another and another, ad infinitum. Evidence of how he’d closed himself off out of necessity. Grief. Guilt. And fear.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury
lolstacia's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- 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
This is the kind of book that sticks with you forever, I absolutely loved it and have no more words right now
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Suicide
reneethebookbird's review against another edition
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Infertility, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Alcohol
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