Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - The Rachel Incident

This book really surprised me in a good way. At first, the main character felt shallow and selfish (she was written to be that way in some ways). The chaos and fervor of youth is so clear, and the journey to finding what is right for you. The reckoning with your past and your present, and holding fast to people you love is so good. I loved the audiobook, and really just loved the whole story. Would recommend looking up trigger warnings.

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ajstremke's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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bookishstevie's review against another edition

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3.75

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danajoy's review against another edition

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emotional reflective

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

4.25

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bethantg's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

3.0

Definitely has friendship and relationships at its heart, with some interesting discussions about the grey areas of these relationships. My favourite aspect of this was the focus on how different people express their care for one another in unconventional ways, or how their struggle to show it at all. But for a character-focused book, the protagonist is massively lacking. She is only really defined by her actions, which she’s often unhappy with, but offers no introspection into these actions other than “I did a bad thing and I feel bad about it.” She also does nothing to rectify these mistakes or grow from them — if they’re resolved, it’s a matter of chance or another character’s decision.

(Carey for the former and Deenie for the latter.)

Her older self is not a character at all, more of a vessel that the story happens to.
Despite this gripe, this is well-written and an interesting coming-of-age story that just unfortunately didn’t really resonate with me on many points.

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