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fbarros's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
However, I feel like the author made very unlikely things happen to the characters just for shock value, and it made me bored, more or less, in the final two parts because of it. It all felt too artificially designed to make you feel something, and it ended up making me feel nothing.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, 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, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
thednfdarling's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
payson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
kalynnar'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: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, 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, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Dysphoria
abby_grace04's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, 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, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
tazch1701's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
With regards to Jude, I wish there was more of an exploration of his thoughts and how his adverse childhood shaped his self worth as an adult. It was easy to extrapolate the fact that what happened to him as a child is what makes him act the way he does as an adult, but I specifically would have liked to have seen an explanation of that in his own words/ inner monologue.
I have a major issue with the end. It could have been a brilliant way to explore how choosing to take the steps to recover doesn't always mean you will recover. Or the fact that recovery is not linear, that normal is different or almost has no meaning at all when your childhood has been so wrought with strife. An aspect of mental health I think is ill explored is the very real risk of actually not seeing improvement despite leaning on a support system and taking steps to get better, if the book explored that it would have felt complete. Instead, it ended in a way that makes the book seem like its only purpose was to make Jude suffer physical abuse from either other or himself. Not to say Jude's ending didnt make sense, given what happened to Willem I fully understand why he did what he did. But it robbed readers of an ending that would have left us a little more enlightened and equally as heartbroken.
I still have to rate the book fairly highly despite how much I hated the ending because its taken up so much space in my mind and its taken me almost a year to properly articulate my thoughts on it.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
janhac28'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
3.25
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
queenpashon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, and Toxic friendship
Very traumatizing!soyboysimon'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: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
clovetra'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
i originally debated over whether i was gonna give this 5-stars or 4-stars but honestly the sheer ability for this book to make me cry 7 different times is enough to make it a 5-star. i barely cry whilst consuming media as my autistic brain is able to differentiate this shit is not real therefore its not sad!!! but i could not with this book. so much crying. even some happy tears which is nuts because ive only done that with one other book (The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School). the way i became so attached to all these characters made me so emotional in every aspect. like the fact i was already beginning to cry in part III when the horrors of part IV & part VI were yet to come.... beautiful.
the only reason i was thinking this was a 4-star book was because god... jude sometimes is so annoying. it feels so wrong writing that because hes literally my baby girl but. QUEEN PLEASE LET URSELF BE LOVED!!!! thats the part that was grating. i know its realistic tho, so tbh im not mad at it. jude repeating that he is unloveable, disgusting, etc. is essential to his character, so from purely a reader's perspective i fucking hated it, but as someone who thinks this book will stick with them for the rest of their life, oh it was necessary.
also who tf decides to give a 4-star review for a 737 page book they read in 2-weeks???? thats fucking nuts even for me.
the amount of times i had to resist googling fanart of willem & jude, or just jude in general was so fucking hard. ive never had this deep of a yearning for literal words.
also this book made me feel. tbh im kinda desensitised to gore & horror and general Bad Things in books. like at 9y/o i was on r/5050 and other shit my ass shouldn't have seen. but some scenes made me viscerally nauseous, or genuinely have to put the book down and stare into space for a bit. yet again only one book has achieved this feat (Earthlings), but even then that book just fucked me up for one part. this book fucked me up at every corner. every page turn.
literally i decided to watch a horror movie last night (abigail, 2024, for anyone curious) and usually im good with gore. most of my special interests are all horror-related (danganronpa, fnaf, until dawn, etc.). because of this book i actually was gagging & had to close my eyes at many points WHILST WATCHING A MOVIE.
the fact a book can have that big of an effect on me? my insane ass? oh yeah hanya yanagihara solo'd.
i actually dont think i can describe how much this book has changed me. was this book enjoyable? sometimes yes. sometimes it was almost a sick perversion i had to finish it. like yeah i would say in 2024 there are books i have 100% "enjoyed" more. but i think this shit has fundamentally changed me. i dont know how, but i feel like a new man.
i cant believe i dnf'd this in the past (to be fair tho i was 14 years old... yeah this wouldve fucked me up even worse!!!!!)
if you are looking to change ur brain chemistry in the worst yet best way possible this book is for you 👍
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Slavery, Kidnapping, Car accident, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer