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lyndann's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Homophobia and Death of parent
lesbianlis's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was so beautiful!!! I really enjoyed it. I think it was a teensy bit heavy-handed in its references to Little Women, however, it handled it really well. The shifts in perspective through time were really useful. At first, I thought that an omnipresent narrator would've sufficed but I enjoyed the shifting perspectives of each event. I come from a large family, no sisters, but still a family with myths and legends passed down, and considering that through the ending chapters of this book made me sob.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Death of parent, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Homophobia and Alcoholism
Minor: Sexual content and Pregnancy
louisealsford's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Abandonment, Grief, and Homophobia
jaydeecepticon's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Death, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Pregnancy
Minor: Homophobia and Alcohol
jdamae11's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Can’t lie, I don’t usually grab books with celeb or “book club” stickers because I feel so much pressure to enjoy them, but I’m grateful for the reading experience this book gave me. This book definitely made me feel ALL the emotions, especially in the final third. The writing was beautiful & although the pacing was slower than what I usually prefer, it was paced consistently well throughout. Each of the characters felt so solid to me, like I could grab them out of the pages, they were so devastatingly human. I’m a sucker for stories about sisters & their bonds, & at times it felt like I was peaking in on moments too intimate for me to be a part of. I appreciated how much personal reflection this book inspired, & a stand out element for me was the well-crafted portrayal of messy, complicated dynamics of mother-daughter relationships. I found the author’s depiction of depression to be so intensely real / visceral & relatable as someone who lives with it- if you’ve ever had depression &/or anxiety, I feel like you can recognize it in teen/young adult William immediately, & I personally felt dread when reading from his early 20s POV bc wow the thoughts were so close to home. Well done to the author on that for sure.
Here’s some of what didn’t work for me, light spoiler territory ahead so proceed with caution!! I haven’t star rated books in a MINUTE but if I had to frame it that way, this book had lost a star and a half from me b/c of some of this:
Using William as one of the main protagonist POVs didn’t work too well for me as a framing device, I found myself always wanting to be back in the sisters’ heads. At a certain point, I admittedly found him to be quite draining (not as a result of his mental health breakdown, rather as a result of him seemingly using that to absolve himself of responsibility for how his actions affected others). Re: William’s mental health overall - I don’t know if I like how I felt it was used as a device later in the book, almost like it could be leveraged to brush off some of his really harmful, continuous decisions without an acknowledgment of the results of those or any self-accountability for the character. Basically William at one point is like ‘I know I destroyed this family & keep leaving my daughter with awful abandonment issues’..& then just keeps being coddled & refuses to do anything about it. This I guess is what makes him feel so dang real as a character, but sometimes it leaned in a way that made me think I was supposed to be ‘poor William’ boo-hooing as well. There were also a few moments in the book when things seemed to just conveniently fall into place for the characters’ benefit that didn’t feel natural or earned - eg William & Kent both getting lucrative pro sports jobs AND at the same team, like cmon. My big ick with this was that a man—William—could absolutely destroy what is painted as an impenetrable bond between 2 of the sisters, & ultimately all of the women of this family. My not nice version of this is that William ain’t sh*t. Julia is for sure a Capricorn & came with the coldness, but she did not deserve to be played so bad the way she was. She was a lil too relatable for me, as was Sylvie, which if you’ve read the book, is hilarious & makes me basically a walking contradiction (true)
Here’s some of what didn’t work for me, light spoiler territory ahead so proceed with caution!! I haven’t star rated books in a MINUTE but if I had to frame it that way, this book had lost a star and a half from me b/c of some of this:
Using William as one of the main protagonist POVs didn’t work too well for me as a framing device, I found myself always wanting to be back in the sisters’ heads. At a certain point, I admittedly found him to be quite draining (not as a result of his mental health breakdown, rather as a result of him seemingly using that to absolve himself of responsibility for how his actions affected others). Re: William’s mental health overall - I don’t know if I like how I felt it was used as a device later in the book, almost like it could be leveraged to brush off some of his really harmful, continuous decisions without an acknowledgment of the results of those or any self-accountability for the character. Basically William at one point is like ‘I know I destroyed this family & keep leaving my daughter with awful abandonment issues’..& then just keeps being coddled & refuses to do anything about it. This I guess is what makes him feel so dang real as a character, but sometimes it leaned in a way that made me think I was supposed to be ‘poor William’ boo-hooing as well. There were also a few moments in the book when things seemed to just conveniently fall into place for the characters’ benefit that didn’t feel natural or earned - eg William & Kent both getting lucrative pro sports jobs AND at the same team, like cmon. My big ick with this was that a man—William—could absolutely destroy what is painted as an impenetrable bond between 2 of the sisters, & ultimately all of the women of this family. My not nice version of this is that William ain’t sh*t. Julia is for sure a Capricorn & came with the coldness, but she did not deserve to be played so bad the way she was. She was a lil too relatable for me, as was Sylvie, which if you’ve read the book, is hilarious & makes me basically a walking contradiction (true)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Grief
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Religious bigotry
dizzymisslizzy's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Cancer, Death of parent, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Child death
Minor: Homophobia
caitgiam's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Abandonment
Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Grief
Minor: Alcoholism and Homophobia
lillieb130's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Abandonment, Death, Grief, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Cancer, and Alcoholism
Minor: Infertility, Car accident, Terminal illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Body shaming
fifteenthjessica's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- 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
4.0
William Waters quickly falls in with love Julia Padavano and her big family, who are in many ways, the opposite of his repressed and sad childhood home that was always in the shadow of the sister that died when he was six days old. However, a family scandal soon is interwoven with a family tragedy, and the family begins to break apart. Meanwhile, William has been struggling with depression, and his relationship with the ambitious Julia--and the Padavano family as a whole--is threatened by his inner sense of listlessness and a growing bond with her closest sister, Sylvie. Can William learn to thrive without accidentally destroying the family he has come to love?
The book is an homage to Little Women, which I have not read (I should), so I cannot speak about how it functions as a homage.
I'm going to be honest, I was hoping the book wouldn't hook me because I was running out of time before my library due date. I found myself spellbound by the characters, who are rich and complex, but Julia can be abrasive due to her bossiness andonce William and Sylvie get together, they are bland and generically nice and not the kind of couple that I enjoy reading about. Both of these lessened the effect of the novel as a heartwrenching family tragedy for me. It's also a little disappointing that the younger sisters feel a bit sidelined for much of the story.
The book is an homage to Little Women, which I have not read (I should), so I cannot speak about how it functions as a homage.
I'm going to be honest, I was hoping the book wouldn't hook me because I was running out of time before my library due date. I found myself spellbound by the characters, who are rich and complex, but Julia can be abrasive due to her bossiness and
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Mental illness, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Child death, Child abuse, and Terminal illness
Minor: Sexual content, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Bullying, and Alcohol
-A major character is depressed, and this is a major focus. Another one might have an anxiety issue. -A major character has a sister that died in childhood. -Some major characters have generational trauma caused by parental neglect. -A major characters' father dies and affects the family. -A few characters get disowned as adults. -A major character is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. -A major character attempts suicide. This is a big plot point. -Major characters' father is an alcoholic. Some mentions of drinking. -Some mentions of a girl getting bullied for being tall. -References to characters having sex and getting pregnant. -Some mentions of two supporting characters facing minor discrimination for being lesbians.amandaredinger's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness
Moderate: Homophobia and Abandonment