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theelliad's review against another edition
3.5
The narrative voice of this novel is hilarious and sarcastic and truly kept me engaged, alongside this the dual timeline of the story is handled well and it was structurally enjoyable and followable. That said, I was disappointed by the ending, the twist was not the best but I thought fitted the story well, it was rather the transformation in Grace (the protagonist) in the final chapters. The self sufficient, powerful and somewhat narcissistic personality she has established falls victim to the writers need for a conclusion becoming submissive, easily forgiving and a bit boring as the final events of her life are recounted; it was this, more so than the plot twist, which didn’t feel right to me. However, that said I did enjoy this book enough to speed through it in a matter of days and so I cannot judge it too harshly!
Graphic: Car accident, Murder, Grief, Gaslighting, Violence, Stalking, Sexual content, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gore, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Classism, Cancer, Misogyny, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Body horror, and Blood
skylarkblue1's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
The concept is interesting, though pretty bare-bones. Revenge against a family who abandoned you. Except that even after learning they're not all the same, she doesn't give a single crap and kills them all regardless. The abandonment is also iffy at best, her father had an affair with her mother, father didn't want anything to do with them *apparently*. Did she try and contact her father? nope. Did she even verify if the story that he was actually her father was correct? nope.
The misogyny throughout - especially from the main character - is astonishing as well. Constantly belittling women, constantly shaming others' bodies for being "too perfect" or "not perfect enough" and it's just so tiring to read. It could have been a good satire about not judging someone by their looks or whatever, but no there's absolutely 0 commentary of that kind.
The incestuous stuff as well was really iffy to read. Grace's first thought for all the men is just "lets seduce them in one way or another" one of them literally including sex clubs with hard kinks. Yes, she takes who she believes is a close family member to a hard kink sex club. And yes, they do go into a private room. While not overly explicit it's still incredibly awkward and pretty gross.
Her treatment towards others all through the book is just horrific. She blackmails a literal child who *she* asked for help from and he was just going along with things. She has 0 issues manipulating and lying to whoever to get whatever she wants. And none of this is in a "ooh she's so smart and sneaky" way, all of it is in a "if someone actually did this in reality they'd get caught in like, 2 seconds because of how brain dead it all is".
The ending is also very stupid. It's very easy to guess how it ends, the "foreshadowing" isn't very subtle at all. Those "letters" at the end, was honestly just skipping through so much of it because I do not want to read a whole page of random "ooh football talk!" like come on. It had 0 impact or anything, it was just pure filler waffle nonsense for the *climax* and entire twist. Purely "tell don't show".
This isn't a book based in reality, it's very much it's own fantasy world. It's not clever, it's not satire. It's just a book about someone bragging how fantastic and clever they are while being incredibly stupid and aggravating all the way through. The only thing that make me remotely smile was the "bible story that wasn't from the bible" near the start.
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Misogyny, Car accident, and Body shaming
Moderate: Sexual content, Gore, Drug use, and Eating disorder
Unknown Incestuous Relationships (One party is aware it's incestuous, the other isn't)nindie'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Stalking, Classism, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Grief, Gore, Car accident, Alcoholism, Blood, and Body horror
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Incest, Physical abuse, Medical content, and Emotional abuse
risemini's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Sexual content, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders
annabulkowski's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Pregnancy, Gore, Classism, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Alcohol, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Cancer, Drug use, Suicide, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Eating disorder, Confinement, and Child death
esophagus18's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Gore, Death, Stalking, Body horror, Car accident, Murder, and Blood
Minor: Drug use
laracroft2001's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Stalking
Moderate: Death of parent, Car accident, Classism, Death, and Cancer
Minor: Death of parent, Body shaming, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Incest, and Eating disorder
ellis_elisha's review
Minor: Murder and Gore
sedgewren's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Car accident, Classism, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Drug use, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexism
buecherdiebin's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Gore, Infidelity, Murder, Gaslighting, Stalking, Car accident, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Death of parent