Review by kelsiecrough - Ripe

dark reflective tense medium-paced

3.0

Spoilers Ahead....
Here are the things that I liked:

the use of a unique form, with the definitions and examples being flashbacks
the symbolism of the black hole was interesting
I was invested in the main character and wanted her to succeed
The. subtle tying in of things that are seemingly disconnected
Every once in a while there was a paragraph that so crisp it had me completely immersed
the audiobook was pretty good too

Here are the things that I didn't like:

Everything that could possibly go wrong for the character went wrong. Anything that was good was so short-lived that it was very predictable that some thing would happen that would upset the main character or make her life more difficult. While I believe not making it easy for your character is important, making everything that could go wrong go wrong made the plot super predictable and lowered the stakes for the reader.
I really don't know how to feel about the black hole. On one hand, it was an interesting device to describe the complexity of generational trauma and depression. On the other hand, I wish it was used and explored just a little bit more throughout the book. I also think the fact that everything was going wrong for her plot-wise really softened the symbolism of her collapse mirrored by the black hole.
Every few paragraphs there was a sentence or two that spelled things out for the reader that I personally would've deleted in revisions.
Ending was ok, like I stated before, a little predictable. All the subtle tie-ins from throughout the book was nice, but based on the amount of time that was spent describing those things in the beginning, I would think their tie-in would be more pronounced than it was in its current list-like form.
Honestly, I felt like this could have been a set of short stories or a novella instead of a novel.

Content Warnings