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Moderate: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Medical content, Medical trauma
On one hand, it was kind of interesting, I guess. On the other hand, it was SO LONG! Like yes, it was decent, but did it really need to be over three hundred pages? Probably not.
What I Liked:
- The general plot. I'm really living for these chaotic novels about messy, disorganized, unhappy people these days. Something about them is just so satisfying to my soul. I feel like a lot of the books I've read recently have been about people whose lives SHOULD be amazing, but something is just ruining it all for them. Throw in some dead parents, chronic pain, and/or divorce, and you've got a perfect novel. In all seriousness, I really enjoy reading about adults. Teenagers are so boring. I'd much rather read about someone twice (or thrice) my age.
- That ending. It was just *perfect.* I love a good bit of insanity, and this was just perfection. It's a sign of a truly talented writer if you feel like you're going insane right along with the characters. Overall I really liked the writing style of this book too. It was darkly funny, shockingly witty, and entirely unapologetic. I really, really enjoyed it. Which is great, because I have another Mona Awad book waiting in the wings for me.
- It had an ✨Unreliable Narrator✨ and I love those.
What I Didn't Like:
- It was long and a little bit slow. It took me TWENTY DAYS to read. Twenty days! (Yes, I did stop to read something else in the middle, but we'll ignore that for plot convenience.)
- I didn't really connect with any of the characters/they didn't feel like real people.
- Hugo. That's all I'll say for that one.
Overall, it was okay. Not my favorite, but I did really like some aspects of it (and I loved the cover (not the one that Goodreads shows, but the one with the theatre mask made out of pills)). 3.75/5, rounded up.
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Blood
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug use, Sexual content, Blood, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent
For any fans of character studies, Shakespeare, and darker stories, I would 100000% recommend.
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Medical trauma
Moderate: Death, Violence
I am literally begging authors to stop using the magically disabled and tragically disabled tropes in their books. it really shouldn't be this hard.
I also felt like Awad was trying to have an unreliable narrator but made her so unreliable that half of the story was lost. we only needed one sentence from a onlooker's pov to make the entire book make sense, but we didn't get that. instead, we got a bizarre ableist fever dream without any clear messaging. wild.
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Sexual content
Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, Alcohol
Graphic: Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death