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sarah_pvd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Body shaming
Minor: Racism
Explicit descriptions of bulimia!nicolepanoutsos'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Body shaming
alyssaherrington'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
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Mental illness
clinachrstina'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
5.0
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Body shaming
Minor: Death
hannah2186's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, and Grief
booksandmo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Addiction, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Minor: Death, Death of parent, and Drug use
ellereadsbookslike's review
- 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? Yes
3.5
I read ME AND MR JONES by Lucy Diamond earlier in the year which had a very similar concept to this book (a story about the wives of three brothers) but it ended up just not being my kind of book. This however was more my kind of thing. MAMJ was just a little bit too clean cut for me whereas this was much more messy which is definitely more like the kind of book I usually enjoy.
I liked how complexed the characters were and with it being quite a long book, we got to spend a lot of time getting to know them. However sometimes all the names and who's related to who did become a little confusing. There is a family tree at the front of the book but it was quite hard to reference as I was reading it as an ebook. I was half way through and I still found myself going 'wait who's that again?'.
There is a lot of build up for the 'big event' which also means that it runs the risk of falling flat. I did enjoy that aspect of the story but the ending just wasn't what I hoped it would be. And you would think that after 650 pages, all of your questions would be answered but that's not the case and I didn't feel 100% satisfied.
I think this a great character driven story about the difficulties of relationships and adult life. Just don't get your hopes up too high for the ending because you might be disappointed. I enjoyed it but I don't think I'll be reading it again.
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Addiction and Body shaming
hannahmayreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Keyes writes about family (and relationships generally) brilliantly. She gets the many contradictions and complexities, but most importantly she knows how to write about love and affection without tipping into happiness. She just knows how to translate life onto the page. This book in particular had a lot of characters and many moving parts, but I never once felt like I'd missed anything thanks to Keyes' skill. She's a writer unafraid of tackling modern problems, but she does so with a light hand that makes for an immensely relatable, readable book.
Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Mental illness
Minor: Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Grief, and Bullying
booksandcat's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Violence