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rnbhargava'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Murder, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexual content, Eating disorder, Medical content, Dysphoria, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, War, Drug use, Grief, Biphobia, Classism, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, and Rape
The entire narrative of this book is about a White American woman excusing and justifying her actions against a college friend and writer colleague who is Chinese American plus the varying moods and swings in action to conceal what she is doing. We are in the mind of the white woman character the whole time and it’s intentionally uncomfortable to be in this character’s head. Pace yourself if you need to though this novel isn’t that long.raven_writing_desk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death and Racism
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, War, and Suicidal thoughts
aleyajo's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Bullying, Death, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Toxic friendship
angeldevoursliterature's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Cultural appropriation, Death, Racism, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Mental illness, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
te_ss_i's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Death, Classism, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Cultural appropriation, Vomit, Mental illness, Bullying, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Racism
hannah_lilli's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Toxic friendship, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent
jourdanicus's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
For such a character-focused book, the characters felt like they lacked depth and nuance. I mean, maybe that was the point, but if that's the case it made the book feel like a too-heavy handed attempt at satire. Either that or Kuang is just VERY good at writing extremely unlikeable characters.
For me there was also too much content that consisted only of the main character scrolling and reading social media... I read books to get away from that, not continue to be immersed in it for at least 50% of the book 😅
This book was still very readable despite the fact that it couldn't seem to decide what it wanted to be. Again, maybe that's the point given the internal conflict of the main character, but really it just made things kind of confusing.
I did like the twist of *how* Athena died, that came as a surprise to me... But then the rest of the story felt like it dragged. I wanted more surprises!
3/5⭐ for me - I liked it enough to be able to finish it but not much more than that - plus an extra half a star for respect to the author in case this one just went over my head LOL.
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Vomit, and Racism
Minor: Death of parent, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
ninahuynh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Overall, I like the book. There were just some parts where the writing was a biz clunky for me and I had to re-read the sentence several times to understand it.
Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Bullying, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Death of parent, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Medical content, Racism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and War
daisyfont's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
Minor: Murder
likeagilmoregirl's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I love reading from the point of view of an unreliable, anti-hero narrator. There’s just something so fun about it.
I flew through this book so fast. It was well-written, captivating, and thought-provoking.
I’m not quite sure how I felt about the last two chapters, but overall I enjoyed this book a lot. I can’t wait to read more by this author.
Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Cultural appropriation, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Stalking