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I really struggled with a lot of things in this book, first being the writing quality. I read “Blue Sisters” first before this and I’m glad because had I read this first, I would have never picked up Mellors’ second novel. There are so many hideous little metaphors in this book like “you sound like how biting into an apple sounds,” or “[it] felt like a punch to the vagina.” Dear god, spare me. Also there are syntax and grammatical typos in the copy I read that I am surprised were not picked up sooner by the copy editors for this work.
Secondly, I struggled with the content of the work when it came to characterization. The last conversation between the two protagonists is the only shred of self reflection we get as to why these two incredibly emotionally immature individuals behave the way they do. The reason why? It’s because (surprise, surprise!) they didn’t have a loving father and mother or a stable home environment so they’re always looking to perform for love. This is such a problematic and shallow explanation for people’s behavior that it just really showcases to me the depth of the maturity of the author herself.
Thirdly, and perhaps the most grave issue with this book is the way it treats race, sexuality, and gender. The plot synopsis is extremely misleading, claiming we are going to get a discussion of topics such as gender dysphoria. Instead, that topic is mentioned once and relegated to the back, to be left behind while the trope of drug addiction and internalized misogyny are brought forward. It’s weak and uneducated writing, not to mention an absolutely weak marketing strategy to try and get people to be interested in this book. Additionally, there are extremely tiring racist tropes in this book and microaggressions that just painfully demonstrate to everyone but the author how blindingly white and privileged and sheltered and willfully uneducated she is on these topics. For a book that took over seven years to craft, she somehow forgot to include any social nuance or vantage point beyond her comfortable rich white lifestyle in New York or London.
It’s truly surprising to me sometimes the type of literature that people will call “good,” especially when we’re talking about works like this. Maybe it’s a sign of my age and different interests, but I don’t want to read about two pretentious, selfish, and emotionally immature individuals who desperately need therapy. The writing tropes are overworked and quite frankly lame, the characterization is a joke, and the excessive focus on drug use is just wearisome (and the fact that it’s featured so heavily in “blue sisters” means it’s more of this author’s penchant in her writing). This was very much a massive miss for me and another well deserved lesson on how I am very much not the target audience for this melodramatic and slipshod literature that glorifies emotionally immaturity and self destructive behaviors.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Transphobia, Abandonment, Classism
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Forced institutionalization
Rating: ★★★★★
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Alcohol
Moderate: Infidelity, Death of parent, Toxic friendship
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation
Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Drug abuse
I could not bring myself to care about Cleo nor Frank, which is sad because the book is supposed to be about them. I think one of the things that put me off is that this story doesn't even centers them. Between Cleo and Frank's chapters, you get lengthy chapters about the lives of the side characters, which are just boring. These chapters never bring anything to the main couple or even the story as a whole. It felt like, by adding those chapters and characters, Mellor saw it as an opportunity to write about as many "sensible subjects" as she could to add some depth to the story. To be honest, I don't believe she has the skills to write about such complex and important topics such as drug abuse, assault, eating disorders, and so much more. She made everything feel very shallow and superficial. There was no depth. She should have focused on Cleo's depression.
The characters were all caricatures, and were so flat that it was easy to predict their next move or what they would say. The book was just very boring man. I know it was supposed to be "no plot just vibes" but the vibes were not there at all. The vibes were rancid, actually. It was giving Valley of the Dolls cheap plastic knock off. There are so many books out there about young depressed adults doing drugs in public bathrooms and having meaningless sex with strangers. If you're not even giving the vibes in this saturated trope market, you're just wasting my time.
Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm
Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide, Death of parent
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol
Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Blood
Minor: Vomit, Medical content
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Toxic friendship
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Transphobia, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt
Graphic: Animal death, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent