Scan barcode
lindasoderlundd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Medical content, Child death, Misogyny, Self harm, Stalking, Suicide, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Confinement, and Mental illness
Moderate: Grief, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Alcohol, Animal death, and Vomit
karol99's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Self harm, Child death, Death, Grief, Mental illness, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Drug use, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Fatphobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexual content
gellyreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Child death
Minor: Stalking and Drug use
ptitirodactyle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Death, Grief, Suicide, Stalking, Child death, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Misogyny, and Self harm
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Medical content, Drug use, Pedophilia, Alcohol, and Pregnancy
withlivjones's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Eugenides’ writing style is very poetic. His descriptions so vividly convey the setting of seventies suburbia, where everyone seems to know everyone else. The Lisbon house itself, and its gradual and inevitable decay that mirrors the decay of the family inside, is also very well described. The use of the first person plural pronoun “we” as the narrator is an interesting and bold choice but is excellently handled and gives a clear sense of the mob mentality of the neighbourhood boys (who later become men). While many of them are named and described as individuals, by using “we” they blend into a sort of homogenous group that parallels how they see the Lisbon sisters.
However, the vivid descriptions take up the bulk of the novel to the extent that the story moves painfully slowly, to the point where I had been waiting for the rest of the suicides to occur for so long that I was almost relieved when they did. It even could have been cut down to an excellent short story, but as it is the prose is rather difficult to get through and there are so many unnecessary tangents where the timeline confusingly switches between past when the girls’ suicides happen and present when the now fully grown men are investigating them. Furthermore, the extent that these poor girls have been put on a pedestal by these men (who barely knew them, merely watched them from afar!) over years (decades, even) of morbid obsession made me deeply uncomfortable. It seems to romanticise their mental illnesses in a rather dangerous way.
I can appreciate the fact that this book has some very well-written prose, but in the end is just wasn’t for me.
Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Moderate: Ableism, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual content
Minor: Vomit
phillyhufflepunk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Lisbon Girls deserved better, and although the story would have been 10x better from their perspectives, I still rate it 4 stars because by hearing the story from a bunch of clueless middle aged men, who were clueless teenaged boys, you see just how ignored these girls felt when they were practically SCREAMING for help.
Moderate: Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Racism, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Classism, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, and Suicide
a_walton18's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicide and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Drug use and Child death
margozaldivar'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
4.5
Graphic: Drug use, Mental illness, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Abandonment and Body shaming
jenny_librarian's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
The writing itself is good, but that’s about the only redeeming quality to this book. The rest is just men being… well, men. I get what the author wanted to achieve with this, but why it needed to be written in this way is beyond me.
I keep hoping the next “classic” I read is going to be better, and I keep being disappointed because those “classics” were written by allocishet white men in a time women were seen as little more than property.
Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Misogyny, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Eating disorder, Medical content, Mental illness, Alcohol, Confinement, Racism, Rape, Stalking, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
Minor: Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Drug use, Pedophilia, Vomit, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Homophobia, and Infidelity
chaoticweevil's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Death, Sexism, Stalking, Ableism, Racial slurs, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol, Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, and Blood
Minor: Vomit and Drug use