natalee_martino's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Violence, Bullying, Gore, and Toxic relationship
mitchvandiver's review
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Bullying, and Violence
eternaldaydreams's review
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
absolutely soul crushing and bleak. i spiraled once i finally finished the book. you’re left with a hopeless, pessimistic mood once you set the book down. the characters own views bleed into you, if only for a moment. very well done though, i absolutely recommend, it’s one of those books you read once and never again. it will haunt me for the rest of my life. the vocabulary is simple and easy to understand, yet emotions are written so poetically. there is an underlying depth in each sentence. you don’t need big words to be able to do that. you just need meaning. naturally when consuming darker media, you always try to grasp on things that can provide comfort. this book gives you none of that. there is nothing to hold onto, not even the characters. they are overall unlikeable, and in end end you feel like a hollow husk. the characters most likely feel the same too. make sure to take care of yourself while you read, treat yourself gently.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Death, Body horror, Gore, Homophobia, Violence, Bullying, and Gaslighting
booksojwhi's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Blood, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gore, Death, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Cursing, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol
bee_03's review
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
this was a recommendation i've long been waiting to get my hands on.
i found myself most enthralled by the first half of the book. halfway through the story started to drag and didn't capture my attention quite like the beginning. while the second half didn't feel completely divorced from the first half there was a noticeable shift that i don't think lived up to what came before.
unfortunately, the book didn't live up to my expectations. there were elements i liked but not the story overall. mostly i am left feeling ambivalent. that said, i liked habib's prose. there were more than a few lines i had to take a moment to reread because of how they were written.
i found myself most enthralled by the first half of the book. halfway through the story started to drag and didn't capture my attention quite like the beginning. while the second half didn't feel completely divorced from the first half there was a noticeable shift that i don't think lived up to what came before.
unfortunately, the book didn't live up to my expectations. there were elements i liked but not the story overall. mostly i am left feeling ambivalent. that said, i liked habib's prose. there were more than a few lines i had to take a moment to reread because of how they were written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Homophobia, Bullying, and Death
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Child abuse
thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Homophobia, Bullying, Gaslighting, and Blood
Moderate: Alcohol, Pedophilia, and Abandonment
caffeinecrow's review against another edition
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gore, and Homophobia
Moderate: Child abuse
juliatindell's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
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
This book was unspeakably sad. Start to finish, just devastating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Bullying, Body horror, and Child abuse
Spoiler
There is implied child murder at the end of the book.bimeariver's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
a mindfuck of a book if i've ever seen one.
i am....utterly obsessed with the author's writing in this. i'm obsessed with stories with unreliable narrators and characters who are deeply fucked up and ambigious endings that feel like drowning because that's all the story is, it's these characters drowning in a death of their own making because as one character said here, death is something everyone carries with them, and it's because awareness of death is not like a logic that grows in all directions at once, but a condition that is always with us, waiting to float like a body to the surface . . . because death is like memory and memory is like love. and they are all three like a snake swallowing its own tail. becoming itself to destroy itself.
the story at first really just baffled me because of the tone of it, the way these characters were interacting in these dual timelines that clash so harshly and felt like some psychological mindgame as being the reader, i had to try to put the pieces together of something that was irrevocably broken in todd's mind. i can't even be sure to say that this story is for todd's to tell because it feels like there were so many fragments hidden that only certain other characters could really help unfold; such as like with anthony, jack, elaine, and livia's voices, to name a few.
the way the story was split into different parts was absolute genius but it will never live up to the utter shock that was the end of part 1 and i'll be carrying that surprise all the way to the end of the year because this story wasn't even supposed to happen. i never knew it existed a little over 24 hours ago as i'm writing this, and now it's going to be stuck in my head forever??
i am....utterly obsessed with the author's writing in this. i'm obsessed with stories with unreliable narrators and characters who are deeply fucked up and ambigious endings that feel like drowning because that's all the story is, it's these characters drowning in a death of their own making because as one character said here, death is something everyone carries with them, and it's because awareness of death is not like a logic that grows in all directions at once, but a condition that is always with us, waiting to float like a body to the surface . . . because death is like memory and memory is like love. and they are all three like a snake swallowing its own tail. becoming itself to destroy itself.
the story at first really just baffled me because of the tone of it, the way these characters were interacting in these dual timelines that clash so harshly and felt like some psychological mindgame as being the reader, i had to try to put the pieces together of something that was irrevocably broken in todd's mind. i can't even be sure to say that this story is for todd's to tell because it feels like there were so many fragments hidden that only certain other characters could really help unfold; such as like with anthony, jack, elaine, and livia's voices, to name a few.
the way the story was split into different parts was absolute genius but it will never live up to the utter shock that was the end of part 1 and i'll be carrying that surprise all the way to the end of the year because this story wasn't even supposed to happen. i never knew it existed a little over 24 hours ago as i'm writing this, and now it's going to be stuck in my head forever??
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Murder, Body horror, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Animal death and Violence