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catsbreadbikes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Child death
Moderate: Drug use, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Police brutality, Cancer, Dementia, Child death, Colonisation, and Cursing
voxelbee's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Police brutality, Child death, Violence, Racism, and Murder
Minor: Animal death, Alcohol, Hate crime, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Dementia, Dysphoria, Cancer, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Torture, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gun violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship
thesaltiestlibrarian's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Brandon Hobson wrote a book that is less than 300 pages, but has enough content and meaning to unpack that you could teach half a unit on this book by itself. The Removed killed me. But it healed me too.
I don’t want to get into specifics, because now that I’ve finished it, this book needs to be experienced going in blind. The blurb gives you as much as I want to give you, just enough to prepare you for the hardness of the subject matter. Brandon Hobson does the rest.
At once heartbreaking and sublime, Hobson’s prose and characters force you to come back and finish the story. I was about a third of the way through and had considered DNF-ing this, but I’m SO glad that I didn’t. I can’t place my finger on where--maybe the halfway mark--something hooked me again, and I had to know how everything would turn out. What started out as confusion and frustration became sudden epiphany and perfect sense when the climax dropped me into falling action. All the questions I’d had got wrapped up and answered, and I’m still feeling the squeeze in my heart more than twelve hours after finishing the last sentence.
What a beautiful little book. Current, horrible, sad, healing. I hate this book for making me love it so much.
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Grief, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Addiction
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Stalking, Genocide, Death, Cursing, and Child death