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malayapapaya's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation
Moderate: Incest, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault
Minor: Death
mutedecho's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, and Transphobia
dixiecarroll's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
“I am fearless, I am quiet, and I wish to feel nothing” - summing up how I feel finishing. I loved it but I also didn’t love it. It was pure anxiety from start to finish (for me). Even though I cannot relate to this experience being that I am not a person of color or an immigrant, I related to the feelings of loneliness that come from being a single working adult. Anyway go read this but be prepared to feel sad
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Gaslighting
Minor: Police brutality and Deportation
readswithcocktails's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This book is full of gorgeous prose, well developed characters, and powerful themes. Ultimately, though, it wasn't my cup of tea. I feel weird saying it's too literary, but I'm definitely a genre girl. I like my social commentary through futuristic scifi worlds and fantasy realms. I can see why a lot of people love it though. I appreciated this book and will definitely check out the author's next novel.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use
kc_onmybookshelf's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Transphobia
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, and Pedophilia
_listeninc0untz's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Addiction and Racism
billyjepma's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I had to read this in increments over several months, not because it wasn’t good or because I wasn’t invested, but because it rang with a truth too heavy for me to manage at the time. I will admit to not reading much fiction of this style—you all know that I live in weird genre stuff almost exclusively—so take this with a grain of salt if you want, but this is one of the most honest and truthful representations of what it feels like to be a twenty-something in America. All of the crushing anxieties over whether you’re political enough, angry at the right things, aware of your internalized prejudices, rebellious against the systems that you know will also keep you alive and happy, the quiet bitterness at how goddamn hard it all is—all of that is here in savage details that feel sharply unique yet fully relatable.
Even when the protagonist makes mistakes and acts like a shitty person, Matthew’s characterization ensures that we know it’s a side effect of a deeper issue (usually internalized racism, prejudice, or self-hatred redirected outward). Our world is messy, and the people in it are clumsy, and I appreciate it when a book lets its protagonist be messy and clumsy without defining her by those things.
The book is also rich with cultural specificities that reckon with realities I’ve never experienced or probably considered—the fears, hopes, and other turbulent, fragile emotions involved in trying to, or trying not to, assimilate into a society that might not want you. That Matthews does it with this much confidence and care feels like a massive feat. She wields emotion like a scalpel and a sledgehammer, sometimes simultaneously. It leads to a book that’s often ugly in how honest it is—which is why I had to pace my reading—but also deeply empathetic. There’s tremendous compassion in these pages, compassion that’s informed by harsh realities and supported by fragile hopes that, when carried communally, can become the precious things that keep us alive.
A wonderful book. I don’t think I’ll ever read it again, but it has left fingerprints on me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Police brutality, Grief, Alcohol, and Deportation
Minor: Drug abuse, Blood, and Vomit
danidamico's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"The anger did not arise from what he was describing; it rose from an expectation for a much better life than the one he owned".
"I stared off into the low dark, thinking about how to shape a life's great turbulence into a story".
"How will we learn about the world if not from each other?".
"My family is a geode of silences. You would need a hammer to smash it open".
"Just as romantic love faded or fractured, so too could friendship end. But nobody consoles you after a rupture with a beloved friend. There are few movies ideal for watching while your tears salt pints of ice cream, no articles in women's magazines that you can skim at the hairdresser's. You have only the ache. No script to accompany it. No ritual to give it shape".
"How was anyone expected to dream loftily about the future when the present ground them down to powder and nothingness?".
"I stared off into the low dark, thinking about how to shape a life's great turbulence into a story".
"How will we learn about the world if not from each other?".
"My family is a geode of silences. You would need a hammer to smash it open".
"Just as romantic love faded or fractured, so too could friendship end. But nobody consoles you after a rupture with a beloved friend. There are few movies ideal for watching while your tears salt pints of ice cream, no articles in women's magazines that you can skim at the hairdresser's. You have only the ache. No script to accompany it. No ritual to give it shape".
"How was anyone expected to dream loftily about the future when the present ground them down to powder and nothingness?".
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Deportation
Moderate: Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Police brutality, and Outing
cleo_reads's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, this is a remarkable debut and also a remarkable book. Also remarkably hopeful and generous for lit fic.
I found parts of it heavy, both because of all of the content warnings I put below and because it's such an emotionally accurate portrayal of being in your early 20s and wow, can that be hard to read about. But it's ultimately hopeful and uplifting.
Here's Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya's review, the review that convinced me to give it a try, even though I don't usually like lit fic - https://www.autostraddle.com/all-this-could-be-different-review/
A note for my fellow genre romance readers - this is absolutely not a genre romance - the MC does have a messy, on again, off again relationship but there's no hfn or hea and that felt like the absolutely right choice to me. This is a brilliantly written lit fic, coming of age story and that's what it should be read as.
I found parts of it heavy, both because of all of the content warnings I put below and because it's such an emotionally accurate portrayal of being in your early 20s and wow, can that be hard to read about. But it's ultimately hopeful and uplifting.
Here's Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya's review, the review that convinced me to give it a try, even though I don't usually like lit fic - https://www.autostraddle.com/all-this-could-be-different-review/
A note for my fellow genre romance readers - this is absolutely not a genre romance - the MC does have a messy, on again, off again relationship but there's no hfn or hea and that felt like the absolutely right choice to me. This is a brilliantly written lit fic, coming of age story and that's what it should be read as.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, Xenophobia, and Deportation
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Homophobia, Police brutality, and Classism
Minor: Chronic illness and Transphobia
alliereadsbooks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Police brutality