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herlvr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Grief, Death, and Body horror
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Car accident, Alcohol, Blood, Abortion, and Sexual harassment
crowyhead'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
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Grief, Body horror, and Drug use
Moderate: Alcohol, Medical content, Blood, Excrement, Car accident, Cannibalism, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Child death
Minor: Genocide, Classism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Racism
ramblepatch's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Drug use, Gore, Toxic relationship, Death, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Vomit, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Body horror, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Colonisation, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Infidelity, Medical content, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Car accident
alexisgarcia'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
3.0
Graphic: Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cursing, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Medical content
nrogers_1030'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
3.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Blood, Violence, Confinement, Vomit, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Classism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent and Car accident
Minor: Child death, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Abortion, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Slavery, and Racism
maryellen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Addiction, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Medical content, Drug abuse, Cannibalism, Grief, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Abortion
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
eed8'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
1.75
Graphic: Gore, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Death, Violence, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Abortion
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
abanks'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
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Addiction
Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting
Minor: Alcohol, Excrement, Abortion, and Child death