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A review by ryanlee
Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier
dark
funny
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book is beautifully written and compulsively readable. Plus, I really felt Jane’s malaise and aimlessness and grief, and I admire the author’s ability to convey Jane’s complicated, mixed-up desires for Jenny. There’s so much to love about this book! I get all the rave reviews.
With that said, I don’t feel like book has a resolution, and it leaves readers dangling. I don’t mean that the characters’ lives have to be neat and clean, their futures rosy with possibility. But when a dark and sudden twist(a gun, with all the Chekovian implications that has) is introduced late in the third act, it ratchets up the stakes and deepens the book’s darkness considerably. As I reader, I needed more than a short epilogue to bring me down from that episode.
If you’re in for a dark read—darker even than the premise of a pregnant, fledgling alcoholic teenager who’s grieving the death of her alcoholic father and becomes a stalker—I highly recommend it. The book is funny, and despite the content, it does feel “light” in some ways, at least until the end. But I’ve seen it described as fun and light-hearted and a romp—and those, it certainly is not.
With that said, I don’t feel like book has a resolution, and it leaves readers dangling. I don’t mean that the characters’ lives have to be neat and clean, their futures rosy with possibility. But when a dark and sudden twist
If you’re in for a dark read—darker even than the premise of a pregnant, fledgling alcoholic teenager who’s grieving the death of her alcoholic father and becomes a stalker—I highly recommend it. The book is funny, and despite the content, it does feel “light” in some ways, at least until the end. But I’ve seen it described as fun and light-hearted and a romp—and those, it certainly is not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Grief, Pregnancy, and Vomit
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt