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natgeographic's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Sexual assault and Murder
Minor: Drug abuse
owlady4's review against another edition
Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Sexual violence, Child death, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Confinement, Torture, Mental illness, Violence, Rape, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
geraldine's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
i've seen a lot of reviews criticize the writing style and while i didn't prefer it don't feel like it warrants a criticism as such, i feel like it does a decent job of putting you in milly's headspace where she's constantly in a state of flight or fight (or fight-flight-freeze-fawn i think it is now) and to that effect it works. i mean i didn't really enjoy it but i did understand and i think this one is just a matter of taste
however,
i really disliked the book itself. the whole time i felt like the author had definitely done research into how abused children act and think because the whole milly hates her mother/milly loves her mother/milly misses her mother/milly is terrified of her mother thing felt very true and heartbreaking, but then how the story resolves......
honestly i should have seen it coming. and by "it" i mean the author's note where the author reveals that she worked as a child psychologist and thanks her patients and says they were the basis of this book (??) and without them it wouldn't exist (!!!). i need you to know that throughout the entire book, i hated mike, the psychologist dad. i felt like it was an unbelievable conflict of interest to have him be both her psychologist AND her foster parent and was fully expecting a nasty twist with him, especially when milly finds out that he's trying to write a book about her which is both gross and exploitative. but then nothing happens because..................................... he is the stand in for the author?! unbelievable.
i had more compassion for phoebe than the author seemed to, writing her with almost no nuance at all solely to justify what happens to her at the end. girl is in a home where they desperately need family therapy but will never get it because apparently her father thinks he's all they need, where her mother had such severe post partum depression that she had to be hospitalized, where her father keeps bringing home foster children and ignoring his first daughter. not to justify the things phoebe does, but why is it when milly's older brother acts out and does awful to get away from his family, he is given compassion and understanding for what he does, but then phoebe is demonized and gets killed?
additionally i got a weird misogyny vibe that's hard to pin down as intentional and somewhat understandable in the narrative or the author's thoughts coming through. similar vibe to gillian flynn and this is NOT a complement, because i've read enough of flynn's work to know she personally genuinely hates women. i think milly having severe internalized misogyny is understandable considering what happened to her in her life, but again it's hard to say whether that's what the author intended or whether it was the author's true feelings coming out. really off vibe, especially about the foster family mother and the way milly talks about her. did not like this.
anyway this book made me realize that the british children's tv show Brum about a sentient car is named that because instead of saying cars and vehicles go "vroom vroom" in england they say "brum brum" which is pretty funny and a really late in life realization to have lmao
Graphic: Sexual assault, Mental illness, Child death, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Murder, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Self harm, Pedophilia, and Suicide attempt
sophiemartin'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
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Grief, Alcohol, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Addiction, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Self harm, Mental illness, Rape, Pedophilia, Murder, Body horror, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Forced institutionalization
briana1002's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Child death, Self harm, Murder, and Sexual assault
jhunt20's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Incest
Moderate: Cursing
meaghanelizabook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Vomit
emilyswift's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Child death, Child abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Self harm, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Grief, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Drug use
rottendollparts's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Self harm, Bullying, Pedophilia, Child death, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Mental illness, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Drug abuse and Animal death
katemreads'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
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence