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abbywj'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
4.75
Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Antisemitism, and Medical content
Moderate: Police brutality and Religious bigotry
Minor: Self harm, Suicide, Violence, and Suicide attempt
bri_morgan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Minor: Hate crime, Infidelity, and Miscarriage
squarahreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
a little trope-y and not entirely sure how I feel about some aspects of the storytelling- though I think it is pretty well-suited to tell this kind of story to the target demographic.
Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
lexithelion's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Miscarriage, Blood, and Excrement
savreads28's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting
or10n's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I've seen a lot of reviews saying that the white supremacist character got too much of a sympathetic narrative, but I don't really see that. I assume what they mean is that they dislike his role as one of the narrators, since he is such a flagrantly unreliable narrator. But "sympathetic" is not the word I would use to describe his characterization. He is an almost unbelievably cartoonish Nazi. Literally one step from having a Hitler stache for 99% of the book. Sure, he has a redemption arc in the last chapter, but I think that is more indicative of the author's wishful thinking than anything else.
There were aspects of white knighting in this book that I wasn't super keen on. Kennedy seems to get her head out of her own ass by the end, which made up for it a little, but you still have Ruth *needing* her, so I guess it just breaks even.
Ruth's sister is also portrayed as overreacting or sloppy or a bad mother frequently too, from both Kennedy's and Ruth's perspectives, which I think rings of respectability politics. There is nothing that she does in this book that is actually indicative of a bad sister, other than involving Wallace Mercy, but even that is shown to ultimately help Ruth! Justice for my girl!
From this review, it really sounds like I didn't like this book, but I did! I think it would have benefitted greatly from assistance from a Black co-author or a bit more research into commom unfavorable tropes, but the story overall was good. If you have the patience to get over the hurdles I mentioned, you WILL like this book.
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Antisemitism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt
crobinson81217's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
mrhouse'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
I think the book does show racism in America but it is not the author's story to tell. I think there are other ways it could have been done to avoid speaking from a black woman's perspective.
Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Medical content, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Animal death and Suicide
lcl_reads's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.5
As I was reading, I felt a bit conflicted about rating the book. I really appreciated this part of the author's note at the end: " I was writing to my own community - white people- who can very easily point to a neo-Nazi skinhead and say he's racist... but who can't recognize racism in themselves." I think my conflicted feelings are because this book is not written for me.
This book was bold in its pursuit and the amount of research and thought Picoult put into the topic was evident to me.
Some critiques I've read of the book are that Ruth's story is not as developed and I actually appreciated that. I would have loved to have more of the respectibility politics, colorism, and relationships between Ruth, her mother, and her sister explored. I also think Picoult was smart in identifying that that was not her story to tell nor was that the point of this particular book.
I think it is important to remember that no book can be everything, so, yes, this book is not everything, but it is the story I think was right for Picoult to tell to the audience she has, from her position, with the support of the research she did and for what it is, it was executed as well as it could have possibly been.
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Police brutality
Minor: Suicide
cielo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting