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lilgriff'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
4.0
Graphic: Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Addiction, Suicide, and Stalking
Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, and Grief
Minor: Misogyny, Gore, Miscarriage, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Cancer
jourdanicus's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
In hindsight the characters and writing style remind me of Ottessa Moshfegh's novels.
Graphic: Blood, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Drug use
Minor: Lesbophobia, Addiction, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy
katerina_l's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Excrement, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Infidelity, Misogyny, Drug use, Body shaming, Classism, Death of parent, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Grief, Gore, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Stalking, Medical content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Body horror, and Sexual harassment
signeskov's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Infidelity, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, and Misogyny
Moderate: Drug abuse, Addiction, Biphobia, and Lesbophobia
aggie2010's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Suicide, Homophobia, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, and Infidelity
Minor: Drug use
the_lesbrarian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicide, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Grief, Violence, Animal death, Death, and Abandonment
silver_lining_in_a_book's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Greta considered her own behaviour around red flags. Her habit was not to ignore them so much as to ingest them, a somewhat laborious mental production that involved placing them in a stockpot with butter, herbs, and mirepoix; cooking over low heat without browning; adding red meat, additional red flags, a jug of red wine; and voilà, four hours at a lazy simmer later, an extremely rich red-flag stew that she forked into her mouth every day like a fucking moron, sometimes for years on end.
Oh no... I hate to do this but I should have seen the signs when in the first few pages we were making horribly racist comments (particularly about Japanese and Chinese people), making fun of anorexics (trigger warnings would have been appreciated) and strangely glamorising suicide.
I had such high expectations for this book! It had so much potential when it came to humorously discussing some very morbid and taboo topics but instead, it turned into a very uncomfortable semi-erotic, semi-thriller novel. It failed at the thrill, it failed at the romance, it failed at the eroticism and it did not even begin the discussion of important topics like relationships, infidelity, suicide, depression, therapy and trauma.
I am not sure I have ever given a book 1 star, but there is a first time for everything and I believe it is well deserved in this case. The 1 star is being awarded solely to the beautiful US cover and its designer; it's the only thing Big Swiss has going for it. I am so incredibly thankful I decided to check this out of the library because I would have probably torn the sex-scene pages out if it were my own copy... they were so unpleasant to read. Not to mention that I am generally fine with erotic scenes! I will never be able to get the image of a slightly moist origami rose between a woman's peach-fuzz-covered legs out of my head. Thank you, Jen Beagin, for making me hate both origami and peaches now (though the latter was ruined by Call Me By Your Name a while ago).
Anyway, I somewhat regret pushing through this sorry excuse for literature, but at least I can confidently say that it sucked and I truly truly TRULY do not understand the hype here... how many trees have been sacrificed for this exactly? I would like to petition for their restoration; they didn't deserve this.
Graphic: Vomit, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Excrement, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Racism, Blood, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Sexism, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Addiction, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Mental illness, Death, Cursing, Violence, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
hannahgjenson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Mental illness, Sexual content, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Animal cruelty
tjasmz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Cursing, Medical trauma, Grief, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Self harm, Stalking, Blood, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping
dixiecarroll's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Infidelity, Blood, Rape, Excrement, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Physical abuse, Self harm, Addiction, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gore, Misogyny, and Stalking