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edelyra's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Acephobia/Arophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
bengami's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Edit: I recently listened to some interviews of the author, and something she said really made this book click into place for me & made me love it more. She called it a fantasy, in that Jude’s childhood is cartoonishly horrific, his circumstances unimaginable, and yet he gets into an Ivy League college, becomes filthy rich & lives in unimaginable comfort with people who love him. Like an old storybook when the child in grim circumstances gets everything they’ve ever dreamed of. Yet, he can never accept it, because he never gets better & never truly escapes his childhood.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Abandonment
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia
this book is EXTREMELY DETAILED in its descriptions of child sexual abuse.aaliyah_lomas15's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
Jude's backstory is tragic. As a result, he is deeply traumatised. I understand the effects of trauma, but what he does is so repetitive. I understand that's the point, the exploration of the cycle of abuse and how it affects him, but the author doesn't add anything new or nuanced to the conversation. It seems like they didn't research the effects of abuse on real life survivors, so they just kept repeating the same ones.
I know this is a fictional novel, but the characters are unbelievable. Unlike others I do not perceive the extent of Jude's abuse as unbelievable, but I do view all of his talents and accomplishments as such. The main four friend group consists of people that are all incredibly successful in their careers and life in general. The only person who really fucks up is JB, but we barely hear from him afterwards which is such a shame as I think his story is personally the most interesting. JB is the only character in this novel who isn't explicitly good or bad. The author writes characters who are black or white (not racially), good or bad. There is no grey area for their characters. The only one who falls into that category is JB, and we don't get to explore his life more. We don't get to explore his feelings on being expelled from his friendship group. After the 200 page mark we only really see JB randomly, usually to advance the plot in terms of aggravating Jude and Willem, to point out how 'shallow' he is with his 'unserious' problems compared to what Jude has faced.
Sure, Jude's childhood is hellish and he's working to deal with it throughout the book. But in his adult life he is surrounded by people who love him (and slightly enable him). All his friends love him; he's incredibly skilled in mathematics, baking, playing piano, etc; he gets a very well paying job in which he is completely idolised; he has a relationship with the perfect person; he is adopted by loving parents at the age of 30. My point is that despite his childhood, nothing goes wrong for him in adulthood (until the last 100 pages). His adult life is so unbelievable. Jude is focused on for basically the entire book, yet I don't think his character is truly explored. What he does is incredibly repetitive, and it's very boring as a reader. This book could easily have been edited down, probably even 200 pages down, and I think it would be more impactful. There are plenty of novels that have truly impacted me far more than this one has. Yes, it's traumatic and sad, but it could be so much more. The writing is beautiful; the characters could be so more nuanced and interesting; friendship could be properly explored (like the blurb promises).
TLDR: This book has a lot of potential. The beginning is well written and fascinating, but it's too drawn out and repetitive. The first half and second half of the book feels completely disconnected from each other. It feels like the author decided to change their focus, and the novel truly suffers as a result.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, and Acephobia/Arophobia
Minor: Addiction, Torture, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
emmarauchtcamel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Acephobia/Arophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
neontulips's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Acephobia/Arophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
dbsuperslayer's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
floraaea3's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Acephobia/Arophobia
feral_andro's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
minor spoilers
I did not particularly like this book and don't understand why so many people do. The writing was not immersive for me -- instead of showing the reader who the characters are, all we get are endlessly long descriptions of the author telling us. I typically really enjoy dense writing, but it was not beautiful or original prose.
As for content, I still don't know how I feel about it. As someone who has experienced abuse, I just don't see Jude's internalization of it as realistic. Yes, there are elements of realism, but I think the degree to which he has internalized what he experienced is dramatized in the extreme and somehow takes away from the experiences of real abuse survivors .... though I have not yet been able to find the words to describe why I feel this.
(Possibly because in the end we're just supposed to accept that some people are too broken to be "saved" and are just destined to die. And as someone who has been suicidal before, I don't like this suggestion at all.)
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Infidelity, Acephobia/Arophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
adamparrishlover's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Acephobia/Arophobia
prawdziwki's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Biphobia, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Vomit, Acephobia/Arophobia, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Racism, Medical content, Grief, Outing, and Classism