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pageafter_paige's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Cursing, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Grief, Abandonment, Death, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Addiction, Blood, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
rosenau'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
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Addiction, and Drug use
Moderate: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Cursing, Abortion, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Abandonment, Sexual content, and Cancer
znvisser's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I love myself some layered relationships and perspective switches and this book excelled at that: the transcripts were basically up-tempo perspective switches and some immediate contradictions between characters made me laugh out loud. However, these contradictions mostly seemed small and in that way I think the concept was slightly underutilized: globally their recollections don't differ that much and it surprised me that all this time later, such a large group of people who in the most part barely kept in touch have held on to such similar narratives of their time together. This was further emphasized by the amount of detail and still lively emotions seeping through the memories of the many events - a whole 40 years later. This bit felt slightly unrealistic to me and additionally, I would think that period had given everyone some time for more reflection (not just Camila), but it did help the story along so in the end it didn't bother me that much.
Being in a band is in many ways a fragile thing, with all the egos and relationships between all members in different compositions. I really felt the author did a great job portraying that realistically. Added to this, it made much sense how there wasn't just one thing that eventually teared the band apart but there being an accumulation of all the complex relationships, mutual treatment and ever-growing emotions which where either more or less unspoken. In the end this is a bittersweet story and I love it for that. Personally, I didn't really care much for any of the men in the story
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Addiction, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, and Death
Minor: Abandonment and Infidelity
hiddeninfantasy'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
5.0
Moderate: Pregnancy, Blood, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Drug use, Abortion, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death of parent, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual content
shaylee_n_20'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: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Drug use, Abandonment, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Abortion and Pregnancy
Minor: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Suicidal thoughts
vrhayes08'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
4.5
Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Addiction, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Abandonment, Death, and Infidelity
Minor: Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Misogyny
anitaforthewin'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: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Addiction
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Abortion, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
jomarie'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
3.5
While I didn’t know much about this book going into it, I had high expectations based on what I had heard about the story.
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Abortion, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Eating disorder
Minor: Abandonment and Infidelity
glass123banan'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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Addiction, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Pregnancy, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Abortion, Death, and Death of parent
loinereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The characters were lovable, the way of writing had you jump right into their lives. It was very easy to picture this band in the seventies, at the peak of their career since the story was written through verbatim.
I have to admit this got me confused, I thought the author’s note at the beginning meant that the band was real, turns out they’re not but this interview-like fiction really allowed the book to have some depths and truth.
As always, I adore Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novels. They always tell beautiful stories with an excellent and very easy writing.
The only reason why I might not give 5 stars is because I don’t think this is the kind of story that will make me think a lot or reflect very much on serious subjects — even though some topics like sex and drug abuse were very serious and gave a very grave dimension to the novel, they’re not subjects that alter my perspective ultimately.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Alcoholism, and Addiction
Moderate: Abandonment