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susiilove'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? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness
Minor: Blood and Sexual content
em_anderso42'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
3.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Suicide
Minor: Racism and Homophobia
bookish_bry'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
5.0
Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexual content
Minor: Racism
sholtie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Racism, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Medical trauma, Suicide, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Self harm, and Blood
gentlemanjack's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Self harm, and Suicide
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Vomit
ankiaisreading'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
3.75
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Alcohol, Body horror, Drug use, Fatphobia, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual content, Confinement, Vomit, Infidelity, Death, Medical content, Sexual assault, Grief, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, and Suicide
ximevillarejo'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
Graphic: Confinement, Blood, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Medical trauma, Death, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Suicide
heyitslu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The novel did have some thought provoking moments for those steady enough to wade through the mess. The imagery of mental illness being a bell jar placed over your head causing you to be trapped in your own breath was rather relatable. Another excerpt, "I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree. Starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decode, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet", resonates with the struggle of indecisiveness and the consequences of losing all options for the sake of not choosing.
Despite the brief moments of reflection this book provided I can confidently place it on my "do not read" shelf. This book is meant for those who enjoy outliers, outcasts, and oddities with a penchant for darkness and depression. This book would have been greatly improved with a dynamic plot line but I suppose that's one of the downfalls of mental illness, a lack of forward progression, and in that sense the novel strikes a chord.
Graphic: Suicide attempt
Moderate: Sexual content
callie_1031'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: Suicide, Sexual content, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Blood
mandysbagel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
- “‘I don't really know,’ I heard myself say. I felt a deep shock, hearing myself say that, because the minute I said it, I knew it was true. It sounded true, and I recognized it, the way you recognize some nondescript person that's been hanging around your door for ages and then suddenly comes up and introduces himself as your real father and looks exactly like you, so you know he really is your father, and the person you thought all your life was your father is a sham.”
- “There must be quite a few things a hot bath won’t cure, but I don’t know many of them. Whenever I’m sad I’m going to die, or so nervous I can’t sleep, or in love with somebody I won’t be seeing for a week, I slump down just so far and then I say: “I’ll go take a hot bath.” (Me but nap)
- “There is something demoralizing about watching two people get more and more crazy about each other, especially when you are the only extra person in the room. It's like watching Paris from an express caboose heading in the opposite direction--every second the city gets smaller and smaller, only you feel it's really you getting smaller and smaller and lonelier and lonelier, rushing away from all those lights and that excitement at about a million miles an hour.”
- I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor... I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose…as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Self harm, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Sexual content