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rwgabbard'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
4.75
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Kidnapping, Gore, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Cursing, Drug use, Violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Addiction, Alcoholism, Classism, Drug abuse, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Transphobia, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Grief, and Murder
searobin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
On one hand, I loved it in a guilty-pleasure kinda way and couldn't put it down. On the other hand, a lot of the actual plot was rather weak, the twists were obvious a mile out, the similes were excessive, gross, and/or weird (e.g., "his chest was as tight as virgin pussy"), and the characters were two-dimensional at best. It was just really, really, really violent. I have aphantasia, so gore in books doesn't bother me in the same way as in movies/tv shows, but some of the descriptions were just unnecessary - like, way too much detail about someone's guts spilling out like taffy that had had merlot spilled on it or something, for example.
I am queer, but don't have a lot of queerphobic trauma, so that aspect of things wasn't triggering for me, just terribly sad and hard to read, but I can see how it would be really terrible for some.
Idk, it was a weird read. I was so hyped when I finished it; it felt like I had whiplash from the whole thing. However, the more it settles and the more time I have to process it, the more I realise that I think it was more an adrenaline high than a good book.
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Sexism, Body horror, Deadnaming, Gun violence, Racism, Car accident, Abandonment, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Outing, Torture, Homophobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Stalking, Violence, Transphobia, and Vomit
Minor: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, and Cancer
rei_reads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Racism, Gore, Car accident, Alcohol, Gun violence, Violence, Homophobia, Blood, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Cancer, and Transphobia
Minor: Deadnaming, Confinement, and Vomit
kccool12255's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Some of my PERSONAL favorite lines from this book (*cue eye rolls and constant head banging*):
"His chest was tighter than a virgin's p***y."
"Wound up tighter than a godd***ed duck's a**."
"I'm gonna tear off your d**k and make you eat it."
That's not even HALF of the stupid analogies that this book is FILLED TO THE BRIM with. It was FULL of them in the beginning, and then there would be a lull for a few pages where you would be like, "Oh, okay, these analogies are decent. Maybe we're done with-" AND THEN IT WOULD SMACK YOU IN THE FACE. That was the process of reading this book, which by the way, took 11 DAYS, which is WAY too long to spend on a book that sucks as much as this one. Although one of my FAVORITE things from this book (*mocking voice*) is just how even though both of the main characters are grieving their sons' deaths, they show absolutely NO EMPATHY for anyone else.
"Mya wailed. He [Ike] flinched when she spoke. It was like hearing a rabbit scream in a trap."
"Buddy Lee had felt a firmer grip from his grandmother on her deathbed."
This book reads like an edgy 14-year-old's fanfiction on Wattpad. Maybe it's because of all the cursing, or just the writing in general, but it's horrible. I mean, there were SOME good lines, but the quality of the bad lines is just too horrendous for the book to be considered good.
"Just because I don't wanna talk about it doesn't mean I want to forget about it. It reminds me of why I don't ever wanna go back."
"You let an animal know you're afraid of it and it loses all respect for you. Men might walk on two legs but they were the most vicious animals of all."
"When the people you love are gone, it's the things they've touched that keep them alive in your mind. They become anchors that help you keep their memory from drifting away."
"He knew what a killer looked like. He saw one in the mirror every day."
"There was no turning back. There was no path that led anywhere down a long road as dark as your first night in hell and paved all along the way with bad intentions."
But the problem with this is that you have lines like that sprinkled every few pages, and you start to think, "Maybe this book will start to get better," and then NOPE, we get lines like these:
"You always felt like you were on the edge of some imaginary precipice...if you were an ex-con, it felt like the precipice was covered in bacon grease."
"The powerlifter had sweat stains spreading down from his armpits that vaguely resembled maps of England and Ireland respectively."
Both of those above quotes came from THE FIRST PAGE. THE TONE SETTER FOR THE ENTIRE BOOK. THIS BOOK ISN'T EVEN A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, WHICH SHOULD'VE BEEN A RED FLAG FROM THE GET-GO.
I'm assuming that these FEW good lines, the moderately good character development, and the way this novel deals heavily with grief, outweighed all of the stupid things for people, because this is the only reason I can give for this book having an average FOUR STARS. FOUR. STARS. IT'S NOT OKAY. I saw a review that said "If you don't like metaphors or similes, this book isn't for you," but that's not true, either, because there was a SPRINKLING of good analogies throughout, it just was overshadowed by all of the STUPID ones ONE PAGE LATER. It's not that we don't like analogies, it's that the author uses STUPID ones.
In conclusion, because there's a life lesson to be learned here, never buy a book that you saw a girl reading on a plane, because she might be a freak (or not, I don't know her). To the girl who I saw reading this book on that plane, I'm so sorry you had to suffer through this. I could blame you for my suffering, but I won't because I did this to myself. You are not to blame.
0 stars. I need to be recompensed for this. I should get an award for getting through this book, because I literally wanted to pluck out my eyeballs the entire time.
Graphic: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Murder, Death, Violence, Cursing, and Grief
Moderate: Dysphoria, Cultural appropriation, Gore, Alcohol, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Blood, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, and Hate crime
Minor: Kidnapping, Vomit, Abandonment, Sexual content, Cancer, Car accident, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Medical content
a_sprinkling_of_books's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Car accident, Child abuse, Cursing, Hate crime, Murder, Blood, Homophobia, Classism, Confinement, and Racism
queergoth_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I really loved S. A. Cosby's writing. The imagery and the phrases used to evoke it often had me laughing so much.
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Transphobia, Medical content, Racial slurs, Alcohol, and Car accident
Minor: Cancer, Confinement, and Deadnaming
pollyhall'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
2.0
The story could have been shorter and some characters felt unnecessary to move the story along.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Kidnapping, Medical content, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Classism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Vomit, Abandonment, Bullying, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Murder, Racism, Torture, Transphobia, and Violence
sarah984's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Gore, Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Violence, Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Torture
Moderate: Classism, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Medical content, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Confinement, Infidelity, Murder, Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Car accident, Excrement, Terminal illness, and Transphobia
Minor: Outing, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Stalking, and Deadnaming
lorinew1's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Outing, Religious bigotry, Racism, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, and Vomit
jennifer_bush_73's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, and Terminal illness
Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Transphobia, Torture, Sexism, and Sexual content