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mxyfrzn'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
4.5
Graphic: Death, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Death of parent, and Dementia
Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, and Physical abuse
Minor: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Rape, Animal death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Suicidal thoughts
heyashjp's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Animal death and Grief
Minor: Abortion
readingonthefly's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Chronic illness, and Blood
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Abortion
booksteader'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
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Abandonment
Moderate: Death
Minor: Abortion
sas_lk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Terminal illness
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Abortion
tarynimwalle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Grief
Minor: Animal death and Abortion
dcoul's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Moderate: Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Animal death, Abandonment, Grief, and Pregnancy
Minor: Abortion
bridgetam's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Body horror, Blood, and Animal death
Moderate: Alcoholism and Domestic abuse
Minor: Abortion
okiecozyreader's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
“She missed the illusion of grass and sky kissing at the end of the world.
She missed standing amid a rustling chorus of wind-waving grasses, the four horsemen of the tallgrass prairie - little bluestem, big bluestem, Indian grass, and switchgrass. She missed May fields dotted with black-eyed Susans, Indian blanket, and coreopsis. She missed bursts of red clay topsoil along dirt roads. She missed the smell emanating from meat smokers, the way the grocery store was always empty on Sunday mornings, good thirty-dollar haircuts, and scissor-tailed flycatchers, suspended like supermen in hot, dry air. She missed the evenings most of all: the grapefruit sun hovering above the prairie, dismissing the day with unpredictable strokes of cantaloupe, fuchsia, and violet.” P35
Wren and Lewis celebrate their first year of marriage, and soon thereafter, he realizes something is wrong with his body, and finds out he is mutating into a great white shark. His loving wife Wren takes care of him as his body and mind transform, and he loses the ability to direct the school play, and acting is one of his great loves. But their love for each other is incredibly beautiful.
“When Lewis finally came to bed, he took sleeping Wren's hand in his and closed his eyes, seeing if he could sense her electrical field.
"What... What are you doing?" she asked groggily.
"Just seeing what it's like to love you when I can't see you." P70
In part 2, we go back to Wren’s childhood and learn about her mother Angela. It was a totally different story, but while reading the first part, I wondered about her mother, and appreciated the backstory, even though it was difficult in many ways.
In part 3 we go back to Lewis in current day and then to Wren. I loved the mother and daughter story and how the author writes in the Acknowledgments, “When I write of a mother's love, I write not from the experience of being one myself but from being a daughter who has been so, so lucky to be loved by parents like you.” Throughout the book, I felt that love.
“Wren no longer sees life as a long, linear ladder with a beginning, middle, and end.
Instead, she considers how life is like a spiraling trail up a mountain. Each circling lap represents a learning cycle, the same lesson at a slightly higher elevation. Wren realizes she likes to rest as much as she likes to climb. She begins to enjoy the view.” P 397
“Angela had been grieving Marcos almost as long as she'd known him, and finally, like a rainbow against a bruise-hued cloud, she saw the real Marcos--not as an idea, dream, hope, or possibility - but as he really was,
Marcos drew an outline of a person who was generous, wise, and kind. and Angela's longing animated his image with life and color. This two-dimensional Marcos, the one she imagined, was never real.” P274
“And then Lewis caved, as usual, to the chatter of resistance, the recita-ton of his very important responsibilities, the weighty things that would require all his life force, attention, and creative energy, why he should not do the thing that was, deep down, most important to him.” P35
Moderate: Pregnancy, Abandonment, Drug use, Blood, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and Abortion
kelseyr713'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
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Grief, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Violence, Death of parent, Gore, Pregnancy, Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Blood
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Abortion