Scan barcode
bigbookbaby's review against another edition
3.0
this was... weird? but not really like good weird unfortunately. there are a lot of things i liked about this, especially around what it means to be a mother & how the mc felt her relationship to queerness changed after having a baby. the relationships depicted were toxic and stressful, to the point i considered dnf'ing. i made it but not sure this was for me. i enjoyed mostly dead things though and overall really think arnett is such a talented writer!
jaclyncrupi's review against another edition
3.0
I decided to try Arnett again despite disliking her debut MOSTLY DEAD THINGS. And it seems like I probably shouldn’t have. The pacing here is messed up (what is going on with novel pacing lately?) and characters are all a bit overdone. Some readers might struggle with the protagonist Sammie but I kind of loved her. She bites her seemingly obnoxious but perhaps just misunderstood child to the point of permanent scarring, she makes the same terrible mistakes repeatedly, basically she’s a mess for the eight-ish years the book spans. But Arnett fails to give the reader any kind of payoff for her awfulness and we leave her as broken as we find he, if not more so. I truly did love her until the final third of the book. The only redeeming factor was the voice of her psychiatrist, who really represents the reader at this point, interupting the narrative to discuss how awful Sammie is. A rushed ending with nothing for the reader to cling to is infuriating. This book made me think about WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN a lot (but a queer, more ambiguious version). I really loved seeing a depiction of a rainbow family. So many contemporary novels are about how hard motherhood is and queer motherhood has definitely been missing. I think though I just need to accept that Arnett is not for me.
jxhnnykang's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
autumn_rayne's review against another edition
3.0
Kristen Arnett is a great writer and she has a real gift for creating very real and flawed characters, but I just felt like I missed the message of this book. What was the point, I didn’t feel like there was any real resolution to the story and the ending was so confusing.
murphysmustread's review against another edition
2.0
Rating: 1.75/5
Hmmm so this book was uhmm interesting? It was on a list Goodreads sent me in honor of Pride Month and I thought “Hmm the premise sounds interesting and it’s June…what the heck let’s listen to it!”. Oh. Oh my. That was my thought after I got about 10% into this book. There’s quite literally not a single character I ended up liking in this book, they were all such terrible human beings. Each and every one of them needs a therapist…immediately. Even now I can’t even seem to form coherent thoughts about this book because it was such a whirl wind of toxic and unhealthy relationships that I’m still reeling. In conclusion: there are so many other books with LGBTQ+ visibility that are better than this.
Hmmm so this book was uhmm interesting? It was on a list Goodreads sent me in honor of Pride Month and I thought “Hmm the premise sounds interesting and it’s June…what the heck let’s listen to it!”. Oh. Oh my. That was my thought after I got about 10% into this book. There’s quite literally not a single character I ended up liking in this book, they were all such terrible human beings. Each and every one of them needs a therapist…immediately. Even now I can’t even seem to form coherent thoughts about this book because it was such a whirl wind of toxic and unhealthy relationships that I’m still reeling. In conclusion: there are so many other books with LGBTQ+ visibility that are better than this.
doug_f91's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
ktsass's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
kingrid's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
yazarreola's review against another edition
3.0
Que difícil calificar este libro, me mantuvo cautiva en la historia pero sufriendo enormemente por la vida la protagonista. Es palpable la frustración que siente al poder llevar una buena relación con su hijo además de vivir una depresión generada a partir de la separación con su esposa.
“She wondered if this was what depression looked like—when you were so unable to care for yourself that you stopped remembering to take care of your own body, not to mention anyone else’s. When you’d become little more than a barely functioning mind: a fuzzy, disintegrating brain floating lonely in a jar of formaldehyde.”
Pasaje de
With Teeth
Kristen Arnett
“She wondered if this was what depression looked like—when you were so unable to care for yourself that you stopped remembering to take care of your own body, not to mention anyone else’s. When you’d become little more than a barely functioning mind: a fuzzy, disintegrating brain floating lonely in a jar of formaldehyde.”
Pasaje de
With Teeth
Kristen Arnett