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annoyedhumanoid's reviews
166 reviews
4.0
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Xenophobia, Blood, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The jokes weren't funny, I took the money
My friends from home don't know what to say
I looked around in a blood-soaked gown
And I saw something they can't take away
'Cause there were pages turned with the bridges burned
Everything you lose is a step you take
So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it
You've got no reason to be afraid
[…]
You're on your own, kid
You always have been
i'm not sure if i didn't like the ending or if i just didn't want it to end.
i'm also conflicted on the narrative structure of being told through memory with reflections and commentary peppered in. it obviously allows for deeper, more mature insight, as well as effective foreshadowing, but oftentimes it was along the lines of "i was so stupid then" which like, show don't tell, and we're definitely sufficiently shown. which i don't think is a bad thing! but i know for others it is, and so this setup feels like a concession to the crowd that can't stand, for example, Sally Rooney novels because her twenty-something young women characters are annoying or self-involved or clueless (for example, from a review of Conversations with Friends: "One of the most pretentious and self absorbed gen-z/millenial 'I am a suffering artist who is better than anyone else' main characters. Something about the damaged female writer character that is really trying my patience these days"). i am a strong advocate for allowing women characters to be annoying and self-involved and clueless. that's not to say you have to enjoy reading about them, but i don't like media catered to people who believe otherwise; just count them out of your intended audience. so the narration winds up feeling to me like a lampshading cop-out.
big thought out of the way, yeah i loved this, a truly funny in-depth character study showing significant growth and change. i fell in love with Rachel and James (Devlin; Carey is fine). storygraph was spot-on with this recommendation, thanks babe <3
miscellaneous: i was happy to see Rachel become friends with other women by the end. being surrounded almost exclusively by men for that long cannot be good for one's mental health
Graphic: Cursing, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug use, Infertility, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism
Minor: Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Excrement, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
- 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
2.75
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Death, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Gore, and Alcohol
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
this doesn't really become a thriller until over three-fourths of the way through—before then it's more contemporary relationship fiction. but i think it was necessary, for the most part, and actually really well done. even though i knew from the blurb and other reviews that the love interest was not to be trusted, i found myself won over by his charm just like our protagonist. and the thriller part was also very well executed. i enjoyed both aspects of the book.
as for its themes. the woes of corporate capitalism are played out in a nuanced subplot, but i wish it had a bigger role in the end, maybe somehow connecting back to Mat, like if he had been
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Biphobia, Bullying, Gore, Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
+2 stars for an enjoyable, genuinely funny cohesive collection of character studies that each serve an overarching plot. (Phoebe is my favorite, she's just like me for real—which is exactly what i said about the narrator of Dolan's first novel, Exciting Times.)
-1 star for the awkward length, about halfway between a novel and a novella. there was very little plot progression compared to character development, which isn't inherently bad, but it felt like the story stood in place while we re-litigated every character's past. if it's between being longer with more plot or shorter with less character development, and as someone storygraph brands as "Typically choos[ing] fast-paced books that are <300 pages long", you can imagine i would advocate for the latter. the obvious one to go is Vivian—i don't really know why she got her own part in the first place, except i suppose that what plot it did have couldn't have been told through Luke's because his took the format of groom speech drafts.* i appreciated her outlook on life but it felt only tangentially connected to the rest of the book. i do recognize, though, that her character is the only woman explicitly said to be a person of color, leaving a hole in her absence. it's a difficult predicament then, for which i don't have a good solution that doesn't completely deviate from the author's intent. obviously none of this matters or will ever happen, i just like thinking about how to create the (probably nonexistent) "perfect story".
*+0.5 stars for the very fun format at times. the tables? yes please! tabularly-formatted data is so pleasing to me.
and if you haven't been keeping track, that's 3+2-1+0.5, which comes out to 4.5 stars.
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Cursing, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol
Minor: Racism, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Colonisation
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
i can't even say it was interesting because i was often bored. it was undeniably disturbing, but that alone doesn't make for a good read. it often read like, "they did this. then they did this. this is what they did." the writing fell so flat that i didn't highlight a single passage. and maybe it went over my head but i couldn't extract any meaning from it, either. after reading others' reviews, none of the mentioned themes held any weight for me, except for patriarchy. just an unpleasant, unenlightening slog. it earned one star because the first part of the three was my favorite, and at least i can say i have a favorite, even though i wouldn't say it was good.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Gore, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
Minor: Ableism, Cursing, Dementia, and Alcohol
- 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? No
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Incest, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, and Alcohol
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
on a serious note, it was nice to see someone get better.
I took one of my hands in the other, tried to imagine what it would feel like if it was another person’s hand holding mine. There have been times when I felt that I might die of loneliness. People sometimes say they might die of boredom, that they’re dying for a cup of tea, but for me, dying of loneliness is not hyperbole. When I feel like that, my head drops and my shoulders slump and I ache, I physically ache, for human contact—I truly feel that I might tumble to the ground and pass away if someone doesn’t hold me, touch me.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Sexual harassment
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Alcohol
Moderate: Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, and Blood
Minor: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria