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sometimes_samantha_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
This one just wasn't for me... I was pretty excited about it based on the summary and I tend to enjoy magical realism, but after Part One I started to get lost. There were multiple speakers/narrators so the point of view (1st, 2nd, and 3rd!) was constantly changing and I was confused about who was talking. The time shifted a lot too and it wasn't always clear if we were in the past or present because there was a lot of mixing past and present tense writing within the same chapters. The magical realism was one element that could have been implemented earlier because it seemed it was "tacked on" toward the middle of the book.
I appreciated the authors sentiment in the afterward about how she went back to revise and added extra bits for some of the characters but I think it made the story more muddled and hard to follow (though I didn't read the original publication).
The ending, I thought, was way too tidy for how chaotic the rest of the book was. I was disappointed in it. I tries really hard to understand and enjoy this one, but unfortunately it just wasn't my thing.
I appreciated the authors sentiment in the afterward about how she went back to revise and added extra bits for some of the characters but I think it made the story more muddled and hard to follow (though I didn't read the original publication).
The ending, I thought, was way too tidy for how chaotic the rest of the book was. I was disappointed in it. I tries really hard to understand and enjoy this one, but unfortunately it just wasn't my thing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Incest, Cultural appropriation, and Gaslighting