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Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Drug use, Homophobia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Violence
Minor: Child abuse, Child death
The first half of this book is a lot of exposition, setting the stage for the driving action. But it’s done well, creatively, interestingly. In other words, “nothing happens,” and I was *almost* bored with it, but I only had to push through a little. It kind of reminds me of Spoon River Anthology with the intertwining of lives and stories of a small town where everyone knows everyone and always have (except the newbies, but that’s not portrayed as harshly as many of this trope).
While it’s a sports town, the sport itself doesn’t take a front seat. It truly is the background while still sating any love for it.
This definitely borders on literary fiction bc the structure is done in a very precise and lovely way, using almost poetic mechanisms such as repeated phrases and parallelism. The narrative style also has a starkness that reflects the setting and the situation, and vice versa. Tension and foreshadowing are done in an obvious but not ridiculous manner. The *way* it was written is as well done as the story itself.
This is definitely a book for consideration. The story is laid out, and while there’s no ambiguity as to “what happened,” there is much speculation to be made as to why and how and what the underlying issues are and how else they affect society. There are no stark answers given. Bad behavior is mentioned, implicated, but not condemned outright. That’s for the reader to determine, negotiate in some cases. Anyone who feels this is moralizing is probably on the more brutal side of the issue.
The narrator Marin Ireland does very well in complimenting the narrative style as well. It’s 3rd person, and the author is male, but I’m pleased they chose a female to tell this story. Such topics through the male perspective can be troublesome, but I feel like the author did well and the narrator helped convince me of it.
Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
I also did not expect to (be able to?) care that much about so many different characters but his writing makes it really easy to keep up with and fall in love with all of them (not
Graphic: Rape, Violence
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Child death
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Gaslighting
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Rape
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Violence, Classism
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol
Graphic: Bullying, Rape
Moderate: Child death
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia