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3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Dear Tournament of Books,
Whattheactualfuck there is no way the books on your shortlist are all better than this i can only assume you are pranking me and that shit is not funny.
Gardner
Whattheactualfuck there is no way the books on your shortlist are all better than this i can only assume you are pranking me and that shit is not funny.
Gardner
- maybe rounded up from 3.5
- soooo i read this after falling down a rabbit hole yesterday bc i almost took a class w the author (but didnt have enough time so had to drop it)
- embarrassingly have been questioning and struggling with religion myself and saw posts about the author's own experience w it
- i appreciate how she handled religion / the topic pretty reverently even tho she doesn't believe anymore
- when i saw the goodreads reviews i was like ok maybe i shouldnt read this !! 3 stars?? bro tiktok books have higher ratings ?? i skimmed the beginning and was like ok ill stop soon but i ended up reading the whole thing...
- it was such a quick and easy read for me— i actually really liked the writing style (altho i agree it was a bit much at times)
- i do agree tho that the plot was not very good. it was really not LOL i could barely tell u what was happening and if you asked me to give you a summary of the plot i could not tell you!!! i did rly enjoy the writing so whatever
- i fw how complicated will's character was but (maybe bc i skimmed) i wasn't rly clear w his background / backstory— phoebe's was made a lot clearer
- also umm ?? the SA part was crazy ?? feel like it could have been more developed ??? i get maybe bc it's cuz will is unreliable narrator ish so maybe he skipped over it but ???
- i might be a masochist but i love ambiguous endings— they're def not satisfying but there's something ab them, like the story is still ongoing
- BUT I RLY WISH WE GOT MORE FROM PHOEBE AT THE END hello ?? esp when she realized 5 girls were caught in her act ? i almost feel like i would have been okay with her death bc of that but if she's still alive, how is she coping and has she left the cult ??? kind of hate how she was cut out completely at the end aka ending was a little TOO ambiguous
- overall, good writing, unclear/vague plot
- oh wait im adding more lol bc i j realized — i also have no idea what was w john leal (will hinted that he was lying ab his past?) lowkey was in a rush to finish reading so i was like wait what then tried to reread and then lost it and kind of glossed over that thing w him asking about mina
- in general, mostly skimmed john leal's parts bc they weren't as interesting lol
- also phoebe's parts were not v fleshed out either.
- also, as a pianist myself, cannot understand still why she quit piano if she loved it and was clearly so good lol sounded dramatic asf? she was upset she wasn't a prodigy or chopin reincarnated? but legit a soloist thought she was good and CRIED at her performance when she was a child ? and her teacher thought she couldn't learn a piece but she did and he said it was great? or maybe i just read this way too quickly and missed smth but ok phoebe
- anyways AGAIN plot was as murky as a fish tank w lots of uncleaned fish poop— i loved how the relationship was developed tho, i think the book honestly spends a lot of time on their interactions which made me want a bf (not at all like will tho lol fuck will 0 redemption after SA) but liked the writing <3
- soooo i read this after falling down a rabbit hole yesterday bc i almost took a class w the author (but didnt have enough time so had to drop it)
- embarrassingly have been questioning and struggling with religion myself and saw posts about the author's own experience w it
- i appreciate how she handled religion / the topic pretty reverently even tho she doesn't believe anymore
- when i saw the goodreads reviews i was like ok maybe i shouldnt read this !! 3 stars?? bro tiktok books have higher ratings ?? i skimmed the beginning and was like ok ill stop soon but i ended up reading the whole thing...
- it was such a quick and easy read for me— i actually really liked the writing style (altho i agree it was a bit much at times)
- i do agree tho that the plot was not very good. it was really not LOL i could barely tell u what was happening and if you asked me to give you a summary of the plot i could not tell you!!! i did rly enjoy the writing so whatever
- i fw how complicated will's character was but (maybe bc i skimmed) i wasn't rly clear w his background / backstory— phoebe's was made a lot clearer
- also umm ?? the SA part was crazy ?? feel like it could have been more developed ??? i get maybe bc it's cuz will is unreliable narrator ish so maybe he skipped over it but ???
- i might be a masochist but i love ambiguous endings— they're def not satisfying but there's something ab them, like the story is still ongoing
- BUT I RLY WISH WE GOT MORE FROM PHOEBE AT THE END hello ?? esp when she realized 5 girls were caught in her act ? i almost feel like i would have been okay with her death bc of that but if she's still alive, how is she coping and has she left the cult ??? kind of hate how she was cut out completely at the end aka ending was a little TOO ambiguous
- overall, good writing, unclear/vague plot
- oh wait im adding more lol bc i j realized — i also have no idea what was w john leal (will hinted that he was lying ab his past?) lowkey was in a rush to finish reading so i was like wait what then tried to reread and then lost it and kind of glossed over that thing w him asking about mina
- in general, mostly skimmed john leal's parts bc they weren't as interesting lol
- also phoebe's parts were not v fleshed out either.
- also, as a pianist myself, cannot understand still why she quit piano if she loved it and was clearly so good lol sounded dramatic asf? she was upset she wasn't a prodigy or chopin reincarnated? but legit a soloist thought she was good and CRIED at her performance when she was a child ? and her teacher thought she couldn't learn a piece but she did and he said it was great? or maybe i just read this way too quickly and missed smth but ok phoebe
- anyways AGAIN plot was as murky as a fish tank w lots of uncleaned fish poop— i loved how the relationship was developed tho, i think the book honestly spends a lot of time on their interactions which made me want a bf (not at all like will tho lol fuck will 0 redemption after SA) but liked the writing <3
This book started off slow for me, but once I got a few chapters in I was hooked. Didn't want to put it down. It hurt to read this book at times, it captured so many emotions so well. Especially toward the beginning, describing the experience of being in love, of falling love, and of that special brand of sadness that comes with meeting someone and knowing you've missed out on so much of their life - I don't know if I'm phrasing that right, but, R.O. Kwon definitely did.
This is one of those books that I read because everyone said to, because everyone said it was good.... and I'm glad I did.
This is one of those books that I read because everyone said to, because everyone said it was good.... and I'm glad I did.