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samglade'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
2.75
While I enjoyed the nuanced characters and their relationships, my enjoyment of the book was spoiled by some of the choices the author has made. The author decided on a style heavy on clinical, excessive details (e.g. a list of video game merchandise on a shelf having over 20 items, comma-separated), which betrayed that she is not a tech person and the incorrect usage of technical terms was jarring. More importantly, it felt like she was ticking off all the dark themes she could think of from the list of possible content warnings, all packed into the lives of three individuals. For shock value? I can't tell why it was needed. Given how the story was progressing, I was genuinely surprised that miscarriage wasn't used as a cherry on top.
Graphic: Medical content, Death of parent, Drug use, Mass/school shootings, Toxic relationship, Death, Sexism, Grief, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Car accident
Moderate: Cancer, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Drug use, Sexual content, and Chronic illness
Minor: Abortion, Racial slurs, Cultural appropriation, Gore, and Hate crime
miaaa_lenaaa'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
4.5
Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Ableism, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
blairsatellite's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Suicide, Abortion, Medical trauma, Vomit, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Cursing, Ableism, Mass/school shootings, Cancer, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Hate crime, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Chronic illness, Car accident, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Misogyny, Gore, Cultural appropriation, Classism, and Terminal illness
bookswithlauren'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
4.0
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Blood, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Bullying, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
ammah'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: Suicide, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Death of parent, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual violence
Minor: Mental illness
gudetama_vibes's review against another edition
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Abortion, Sexual violence, Vomit, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Gore
wooblatoober's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
zevin does an AMAZING job of showing how people and their relationships change over time. it’s crazy how much my opinions on the characters changed over time, waxing and waning and flipping between them.
this book reads like creative nonfiction. it’s remarkable. my only small complaint is a major spoiler (everything i’ve marked “spoiler” is a major spoiler though), and that’s basically the end of the book. tl;dr for the spoiler, i felt like the ending was just over the line of a little bit too late in the back-and-forth of the story to feel satisfied by it. i felt empty at the end like i do out of all the best books, but that emptiness came from events that happened before the ending of the book, and the ending was overshadowed by that and felt too little too late.
Graphic: Sexism, Racism, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Death, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Drug use, Hate crime, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Ableism, Cultural appropriation, Antisemitism, and Body shaming
katiefurms'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: Pregnancy, Medical content, Cancer, Death of parent, Death, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Grief, Blood, Gore, Suicide, Car accident, Sexism, Chronic illness, Mass/school shootings, and Vomit
Moderate: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship
ksolesby's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Drug use, Abortion, Death, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Murder, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Cancer, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Pregnancy, Grief, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Mass/school shootings, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship
aileron'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: Car accident, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Death, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, and Medical content
Moderate: Cancer, Vomit, Confinement, Abortion, Gore, Infidelity, Terminal illness, and Blood
Minor: Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Eating disorder