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A review by fivefingerfrankenstein
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Maybe it's because I watched Drop Dead Fred too many times as a child, but I loved this book. And although I understand logically that the narrator and her imaginary/ not imaginary friend were the bad guys, I was also rooting for them, in that final fight. I always want the big bad monsters to protect the main characters, and I got that wish fulfillment in this book.
The story did a good job of bringing you along for the ride in Vera's headspace, made you sympathetic to her perspective, and then snapped you back to reality at the end to show exactly what you'd been sympathizing with. And it demonized the mother without making her some inhuman monster. She was just shitty in the way regular people are shitty.
The story did a good job of bringing you along for the ride in Vera's headspace, made you sympathetic to her perspective, and then snapped you back to reality at the end to show exactly what you'd been sympathizing with. And it demonized the mother without making her some inhuman monster. She was just shitty in the way regular people are shitty.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Vomit, Gore, Violence, and Body horror
There wasn't a good tag for this in the pre set tag list, but there is talk about the house that resembles sexual assault, but is not actually sexual assault since it's a house and not a person. But just like.... it's close enough language that it sort of bothered me and may bother others who are sensitive to it.