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laura_keoski's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Things I enjoyed about this book: the lush prose, the moody atmosphere, the historical scientific explorations, the mystery of the serpent, the potential of some of these unique characters.
Things that got in the way for me: The book relied heavily on character development, but most of the characters still felt under-developed and one-dimensional. They were so one-dimensional that they couldn’t seem to predict the rather obvious behaviors of their fellow characters. The ending of the book was a less revelatory experience as the reader than it was for the characters themselves.
Things that got in the way for me: The book relied heavily on character development, but most of the characters still felt under-developed and one-dimensional. They were so one-dimensional that they couldn’t seem to predict the rather obvious behaviors of their fellow characters. The ending of the book was a less revelatory experience as the reader than it was for the characters themselves.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Death, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Violence, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Ableism
Minor: Domestic abuse
fireinherveinzz's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Reread the first half which made it make a lot more sense. Did not love the random inclusion of all the extra side character povs like Thomas Taylor who didn’t contribute anything to the story . Also the end cut off without a conclusion which I hate like mid story. There was a lot of will they won’t they that just turned into fade to black eh. Story needed more passion less dryness . The show is definitely giving this story more life so far. I loved Cora and Will’s dynamic , Martha coming into her own independence from Cora and chasing her passions as well in social work. Loved Katherine Ambrose’s line to Cora “you cannot always keep yourself away from things that hurt you. We all wish we could , but we cannot: to live at all is to be bruised; I know that none of us was made to be alone. You told me once you forget you are a woman, and I understand it now you think to be a woman is to be weak you ours is a sisterhood of suffering! Perhaps so, but doesn’t it take a greater strength to walk a mile in pain than seven miles in none? You are a woman, and must begin to live like one. by which I mean: have courage “. Also another great one liner Cora telling Will “we are cleaved together , we are cleaved apart everything that draws me to you is everything that drives me away “. 😭 Could’ve liked this story better had it not been so focused on both Luke’s and Cora/ will’s and just Cora and Will. Luke deserved his own story not to be clumped in with theirs. He had nothing to do with this besides helping Cora with advice and Stella with her illness and being a part of a pseudo love triangle with her and Will.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Terminal illness
strabbyfieldz's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
some parts of this book made me want to cry because I had no other way to express how I feel, it was such a strange overwhelming feeling of connection to an idea to a person to a theme that it hurt in a way. but then other parts jarred with me, especially spencer's plot line... why did the book frame him becoming a landlord as a good thing??? also idk something about Francis and his narrative felt strange in that he only really came into focus at the end. BUT that being said I got so absorbed that my eyes now sting from reading for like 3 hrs lol
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Medical content, and Death
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death, Toxic relationship, Classism, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny
Minor: Bullying and Emotional abuse
bookedbymadeline's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Death, and Medical content
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Ableism, Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Infidelity
Minor: Child death and Cancer
innerweststreetlibrarian's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This feels less like a novel and more like an observation of the intersecting lives of the characters over a period of time. The presence and fear of the serpent is pervasive, it changes people’s behaviour and impacts the way they live their lives. The writing is excellent, the narrative interesting enough to be unpredictable and it held my attention, but not engrossing enough to read it fast. I could have happily read a chapter a month and kept pace with the passage of time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma and Medical content
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Child abuse and Infidelity
rieviolet's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I went into the book not really knowing what to expect (it's a book that I've seen recommended many times and wanted to give it a try) and now that I've finished it I can say that it was a nice enough read and clearly well written and researched but it just fell a bit flat for me in terms of story.
Unfortunately, I did not care much about the two main characters and their relationship and I was more intrested in the various side characters, their portrayal and plot lines. Also, on various occasions, the
choices and actions made by the characters left me very perplexed and just felt a bit out of place.
Overall, I quite appreciated the writing stlye/prose, although there were some segments where the author narrated in a sort of sequence each characters' progress within the story and those parts I found a bit dragging.
Also, I didn't particularly enjoy the detailed description of injuries and medical procedures, maybe they seem quite tame for many people but I am squeamish and so I found it really difficult to go through those parts.
Unfortunately, I did not care much about the two main characters and their relationship and I was more intrested in the various side characters, their portrayal and plot lines. Also, on various occasions, the
choices and actions made by the characters left me very perplexed and just felt a bit out of place.
Overall, I quite appreciated the writing stlye/prose, although there were some segments where the author narrated in a sort of sequence each characters' progress within the story and those parts I found a bit dragging.
Also, I didn't particularly enjoy the detailed description of injuries and medical procedures, maybe they seem quite tame for many people but I am squeamish and so I found it really difficult to go through those parts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Medical content
Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content
Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Body shaming, and Sexual violence
maddiehansen's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
nnniro411's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- 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
2.0
I am unsure how to feel about this book. I think if I was trying to read it I wouldn't have been able to get through it. Even listening to the audiobook was a struggle. It was a bizarre story that I wish had more action. Honestly I think I went into it thinking this was going to be more of an creature searching adventure when in reality it was much more slower paced with more of a metaphorical plot than an actual creature. I tuned out a lot listening to this and still feel completely at a loss on what I think of this book.
It honestly feels more like a book I would have been forced to read for English in high school than a book I would have read on my own.
It honestly feels more like a book I would have been forced to read for English in high school than a book I would have read on my own.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Infidelity
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
rosedepines's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Chronic illness
leahmeeko's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book was strangely beautiful. At first I thought it would be too slow but after around 60 pages I was hooked. There is a lot to digest and I am entirely glad that I had the experience of doing so. The characters and the settings are so well-crafted that I could picture everything and everyone; I never once felt that the descriptions were too much. In fact, some of them were insanely wonderful (I especially enjoyed the descriptions of Stella throughout the book). While the layout is slightly strange (it’s divided into parts which are subdivided into months, which is nice except each month starts with chapter one again so I was never too sure how many chapters in I actually was) the addition of letters between the characters solidified each of them and made the story feel all the more real. There are many characters and a lot of sub plots, each of which were interesting, never too long, and wrapped up at the end (although I feel like some of it was potentially a little hurried). It’s a historical fiction with elements of mystery and a little bit of romance and I loved every aspect of it. I felt torn over what I wanted for each of the characters and how I wanted their relationships to progress but I think that was the point- it seems that the characters themselves are equally torn and. It highlights the relationship between religion and science, and also touched on feminism. I genuinely don’t know how to fully capture how I feel about this book, and while some aspects I’ve mentioned did make it drop that 0.25 of a star (kind of a ridiculous amount), it was ultimately incredibly hard to put down and wonderfully unique.
EDIT: it’s been months since i’ve read this and i’ve decided to change it to a 5 star review, purely because every time i think about it i feel so much love for it and ultimately i don’t think a book has to be perfect to be perfect for you
EDIT: it’s been months since i’ve read this and i’ve decided to change it to a 5 star review, purely because every time i think about it i feel so much love for it and ultimately i don’t think a book has to be perfect to be perfect for you
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Death and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Grief