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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
cigarete_smoke's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Suicide, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Drug use, and Violence
Moderate: Gun violence, Self harm, and Drug abuse
Minor: Eating disorder, Vomit, and Adult/minor relationship
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
charlereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Infidelity, Death, Drug use, Grief, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
mothmaul'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Mental illness, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Animal death, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Violence, Death, Drug use, and Gun violence
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Addiction, Abandonment, Rape, and Grief
Minor: Stalking, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Eating disorder, Abandonment, and Alcohol
billie_churchill's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, and Violence
Minor: Miscarriage, Death, Kidnapping, Self harm, Alcohol, Bullying, Grief, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Vomit, Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Drug use
alicialicia'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Stalking, Physical abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Blood, Infidelity, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Mental illness
Minor: Vomit, Rape, and Cancer
ukponge'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
4.25
Graphic: Suicide, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, and Death of parent
readingtomydogs'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
4.25
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Sexual content, Violence, and Suicide
Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Stalking
dogdad1972's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Suicide, and Violence