Reviews

Last Things by Jenny Offill

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exiles's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.0

Content Warnings

The story of a parent's mental illness, through the eyes of a child. Even the other parent was too preoccupied to protect Grace. We are also looking at the extinction event and her mother's response to that. Grace's mum takes her on a bizarre road trip whilst dealing with her mental disintegration. Then she finally appears to take her own life.
I did not find I was invested in any of the characters and the plot appeared random.
Important issues, but I did not enjoy this novel. At times it was very irritating, even young Grace was not free of acting horribly especially to he blind neighbour. I know it was probably a result of her own maltreatment.

poorlywordedbookreviews's review against another edition

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[[• D N F @ 24% •]]

I read Offill’s Weather last month and was hooked from the start. This is her debut from 1999, and whilst there’s nothing obviously wrong with it, I am boooored. It’s a library book, so zero sunk cost fallacy, and it’s sliding onto the DNF list. I mean, a story about some dysfunctional parents told from the point of view of their 8 year old child was always going to be hit and miss - they often are incredibly unrealistic as well and unreliable narrators. This one here didn’t feel genuine.

vielzitrone's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

yvkhan's review

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3.0

TFW your mom is abusive but she is also your mom and you are a child and moms are all you have and will always be all you have and so you go along with her bullshit and let her lie trick shame and torture you but she is your mom and she is beautiful and bold and brilliant all the same and because of that you are loyal to her and cannot imagine anything else

Also the father was just 100% right for me like all the way so the blurb is misleading ... and they just kept focusing on the mother? It’s a mommy issues novel.

Not super remarkable though that scene with the blind kid at the end was very disturbing in a good way.