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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
funny
fast-paced
The pacing was good and the act of reading it was fun. Not sure overall it’s a great book, but I enjoyed it a lot.
This is my 100th book reviewed this year, and I love it. So much voice. What a fun concept and great characters. The main character was so relatable, I almost didn't think about how weird it was that the ten-year-old twins would spontaneously combust. Okay, not exactly spontaneously, as it happens when they're upset, so this is something a person could help them learn to control. If they had a person in their lives who cared enough to figure that out and help them. Enter our heroine, a loser living in her alcoholic mom's attic, to reluctantly save the day.
The audiobook was awesome, and yes, I read this in one day. You could too, it's a quick read.
The audiobook was awesome, and yes, I read this in one day. You could too, it's a quick read.
Audio recording: the narrator’s accent was a little awkward, but I got hooked and invested in the characters. Good listen.
I don't say this about many books but this could have been longer. The meat of the book--the time that Lillian spends with her incendiary charges--feels short. I felt cheated! As I read and the percentage meter at the bottom of my kindle ticked ever higher, I wanted more. More of the entertaining children, more of Lillian and Madison's frenemy relationship, more of stuffed-shirt Carl, more of Mary! (Give me a novel just about Mary). From the jump, we're told that Lillian's job is for the summer and we get to like what, mid-July? GIVE ME MORE.
Fun, if a little thin on the plot. Had very interesting cast of characters that were quirky and unexpectedly funny, and while I'm not a huge fan of comedic books, this definitely did make me laugh a few times. Themes of class division, class mobility, privilege, family trauma, and found family at its heart. Overall: cute, but maybe would have been more successful as a novella. It did what it came to do and I'm not mad about it.
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Extremely original; hilarious and devastating in equal measure, often in the same paragraph or sentence. The audiobook narrator was fantastic. At times it felt a bit predictable but that was easily overridden by the characters and their world. I do wish we had a little more information on average people's response to the footage of Timothy on fire. Were there other fire children out there? Did their families or doctors recognize what happened and maybe attempt to reach out? Were there message boards on the internet creating conspiracy theories about what they saw? Or, if it was it really just exclusive to Jasper, what makes his genes or poor parenting special compared to other neglectful or abusive parents? I know much is left unsaid on purpose, but to me it felt a little incomplete to not know the response outside of mass media.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, Classism
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really enjoyed this book as a novel concept of friendship and an exploration of a unique genetic trait inherited by the kids. I enjoyed the audiobook reader and her intonation and accents. The friendship is appalling at first but it grew on me. The short audiobook was a perfect length and easy to listen to as I eased into summer.
To my sibling, who has a child and a partner and a two-income household, this was laugh-out-loud funny. To me, who has no child and no partner and a one-income household, I think it was too close for comfort. I also think it conveys the fierce tender darkness of life after exposure to Wealth. It is funny but also I am a child on fire and a queer woman who is too serious. And I am the person who could so easily be like oh thank fuck, children I can’t walk away from! Now my life has a general shape and I just have to do detail work! The end of the book portrays something real and true about how we make choices and how love and parenting work. Did I mention that I attended the university named in this book along side girls who had gone to the prep school that’s thinly veiled as the original setting where Madison and the protagonist meet in this story? That Southern Gatsby scene of the crime where I learned about the Toms and Daisies of the world, and got hints that I might be auditioning for a role as a Jordan.