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nreyno's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Grief, Abortion, and Pregnancy
poppyfitzclark's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Abortion
americattt's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Child death, Terminal illness, and Grief
Moderate: Abortion
lisbethssalamander's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
That part of the book didn't show up until much later, and besides the Radiohead mention, I went into completely blind. I'm glad I did now because it made the emotional impact much greater when the book does a 180 degree turn halfway through.
I loved the beginning of the book where the narrator discusses various bits of internet culture, such as the trend a few years ago of saying "ahahaha" instead of "hahaha" and how eating ass came from seemingly nowhere, but maybe it was a ploy by our enemies to distract us and while our guard is down because everyone is busy eating ass, they attack us.
Halfway through the book the narrator's sister finds out she's pregnant and the fetus has a chromosome abnormality that will result in severe disability called Proteus syndrome. The battle for the right for women to choose becomes the main story from this point on. The baby is born and lives a short life and ultimately dies, surrounded by her devastated family.
While the story is fictional, it is based on events that happened in the author's life. Since I went into the story not knowing anything about it, I was blindsided but the rapid change in tone.
I lost a sibling who was a baby when I was a child, and the book became difficult for me to read from this part on. I'm very glad I did, because it's a wonderful book, but it brought back a lot of memories that are hard for me even now, decades later. Remembering sitting in the hospital, the sick feeling when I was told what had happened, and similar to a scene described in the book, I also had a fleeting moment where I believed I would be told that a mistake had been made and we would all sigh with relief over the close call. That didn't happen of course.
Because of this, I related a great deal to the second half of the book. I would be unable to give any kind of objective review of the book because so much of it was so relatable that I really have no idea if other people would like this book or not.
I would recommend it for people who have dealt with grief or loss, of course, and also people interested in internet culture, but I have a feeling some of the ones who come for one of the above might take issue with the other.
Moderate: Abortion
rory_john14's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Rape, and Classism
annaofjesup'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, and Grief
Moderate: Medical content and Pregnancy
Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Confinement, and Abortion
flavoredfaeman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Medical content and Pregnancy
Minor: Abortion
ailerua's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Chronic illness, and Abortion
Minor: Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and War
lorenag5's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
withlivjones's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I thought that the writing was very clever: the whole thing is structured in small, Tweet-like sections of prose in reference to the theory that humans’ attention spans are getting shorter because of social media; the tone of the narration is littered with dark humour because many people nowadays use humour to cope with how awful life is; and the book perfectly captures the internet culture of the late 2010s - the period between the 2016 election and the pandemic when we all thought life couldn’t get any worse! - and yet at the same time there are so many absolutely beautiful lines, and you can easily tell that this is a book that was crafted with love.
I’m sure that a lot of the references will go over the heads of those lucky enough to not be chronically online, and it’s so much a product of its time that it will become outdated in a decade or so, but I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if this book gets taught to the literature classes of the far future to get a good idea of the cultural zeitgeist of the Trump era, and those future children will stare at words like “binch” and “sneazing” with the same level of bewilderment as our parents, and the cycle will continue.
Graphic: Child death, Medical content, Grief, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Religious bigotry and Abortion