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Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Medical content
Minor: Homophobia, Racism
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Addiction, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent
The only reason I finished this book was because it is my Book Club novel. I fought and sweated my way through page by page because itās just so bad. Itās part of the trend for authors to try to make their books ādeeperā by flooding every character with trauma. Pain Porn if you prefer.
The author thought that by giving each character a single-defining struggle she is making them less one-dimensional but because of that they felt almost like cartoon characters. Cleo - beautiful, thin, talented, young BUT WAIT she is depressed and has both mummy and daddy issues; Frank - beautiful, āmanlyā, successful, rich and older BUT WAIT he had mummy issues and is an alcoholic, Zoe - beautiful, thin, talented BUT WAIT she has seizures, Quentin - beautiful, thin, rich āsnarky gay best friendā BUT WAIT he canāt come out of the closet because of his homophobic Polish family (fuck you for that Coc, enforcing Polish stereotypes) and is a drug addict, Anders - beautiful, thin, rich fuckboy BUT WAIT his step-son doesnāt like him anymore and his parents donāt visit him in the US. You see what I mean? The only half-decent characters are Eleanor and Santiago, just because they are not awful to other people, but they rarely are given voice and in the end are pushed into the role of āI can fix himā girl for Frank and ālosing weight will let you find loveā, respectively. Nauseating. TikTok girlies, wake up, this is not literary fiction you claim it to be.
The book obviously features a lot of content warnings - wouldnāt be a pain porn without it - but Iām not sure if itās handled even passably well.
This book angered me on so many levels. It was the superficial depth, wannabe literary fiction, over sexualisation of everything (Zoe saying that she is āa real girlā now, after climaxing, nauseated me), disrespectful treatment of a lot of extremely heavy issues and -how could I forget - BLATANT plagiarism of other media (yes, Iām looking at you ripped-off Fleabag dinner scene). Awful
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Classism
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Forced institutionalization
Minor: Animal death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Pregnancy
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Infidelity, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship
Minor: Eating disorder, Transphobia
Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent
Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Self harm, Violence, Dysphoria