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nugsforbugs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Addiction, Alcoholism, Grief, Violence, Vomit, Bullying, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Murder
xenalia's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
It’s really just a boring coming of age book. With really sad characters that can’t move on and need approval.
It was a 1.5 star book for me. I rounded up to 2 bc the writing was very descriptive. It gave me great visuals.
Graphic: Death, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Child death, Classism, Abortion, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Vomit
kermit_the_wrong's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Vomit, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, and Gore
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, and Abortion
apocalipstick'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
1.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Death
ambermarz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
What I liked: the detailed descriptions of gore/body horror/drug trips. the character's battle with addiction. the descriptions of mushrooms.
What I didn't like: the characters. I didn't feel for Erin at all. There was a lack of characterization for her outside her obsession with Silas. I don't even know what she looks like. The pace of the book in general. How all over the place the different themes were.
I was too lost in the multiple themes going on to see the
Overall I wanted to like it, but it fell flat. About halfway through I was really excited to see where it went, then it just went downhill. Meh. Bummer from an author I like.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Drug abuse, Self harm, Cannibalism, Violence, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Vomit, Sexism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Child death and Death
dustghosts'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
2.5
+ great narration from the audiobook reader
+ a fantastic writing style that meanders through the slow moments well, evocative and high-tension at more horrific/scary scenes, overall I would read more from this author
+ some truly scary visuals / moments that felt almost made for the screen
+ at least nearer the beginning, a really well-balanced homage to a place with a complicated history, past and present
+ excellent depiction of a toxic, all-consuming relationship, and a complicated and nuanced depiction of what grief for that might look like
o not a particularly likeable cast, and the other three characters in the friend group were more vividly and interestingly depicted than our narrator, Erin. a few characters call her “empty,” though, and I think this blankness might have been purposeful
- this book is trying to handle a lot of difficult topics (grief, history and how to reckon with it, toxic relationships and friendships, addiction, the creation of “ghost stories,” and some more minor ones). sometimes it does this really well, but more often feels muddled and the pace suffers for it. not that a book can’t focus on multiple themes, but I think that leaning stronger into one or two could have helped the book to feel more focused and purposeful. (For example: we spend a lot of time talking about facing history and giving it its due, but that seems to fall by the wayside the further we get into the book, and feels unsatisfying to be reminded of again at the end when we haven’t looked dead on at any of it in some time.)
- I’m not sure whether this is a helpful or harmful depiction of addiction, and I don’t really have the tools to analyze that— will have to learn and listen more to do so properly. lots of reviewers say this does a good job of portraying the “horrors of addiction,” the destructive patterns and loss of self that can come with. to me, on a surface level, this feels often very sensationalized and demonizing of drug users— not unlike those books we would have been obsessed with in middle school. having the narrator be an addict herself, and the natural marriage of genre to subject, helps some, but I have a major issue reconciling the moralizing of the epilogue with
- as a sucker for repetition, I still felt that this book leaned a bit too heavily on it at times, and it just felt like when you start nodding along to someone as they’re speaking to you just to see them through
anyway. it was an interesting and mostly-enjoyable read, but felt like it went off the rails at some point and I’m not sure that it ever made it all the way back on
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Drug use, Gaslighting, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Abortion, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Gore