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iseefirede's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury
emmagreenwood'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? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism
Minor: Child death and Pregnancy
baileebee123's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Things I liked: I've read 2/3rds of V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic series and was impressed at how different this book is from that series. This is definitely an author that has range. Julia Whelan's narration was intriguing after only having listened to her narrate Emily Henry and her own novel. I read this as part of a book club and was told by my friends that they would recommend the physical book over the audiobook because of the poetry and art that obviously wasn't present in the audiobook. I do own the physical copy of the book so I peeked at the art at the beginning of each section and felt that it did add to the story. I really liked the writing. It was pretty flowery so I'm sure it wasn't a hit with everyone, but I felt like it was true to the theme of the book. The concept was super clever.
Things I didn't like: Addie is not a very compelling character to me. I was annoyed that despite living for so long, Addie doesn't seem to change or grow in any meaningful way. I also wasn't that interested in Henry
Other notes: I've read better examples of the power of names than this book, which is kind of embarrassing considering how heavy-handed that commentary was. Perhaps other books do this better because it isn't so heavy-handed? There was a lot of "in ten years time" type of wording that I found super annoying in Beartown but I think it's appropriate here since Addie's story spans 300 years. There is some attempt at diversity with Henry being Jewish and both Addie and Henry being bi, but I'm not sure I could that as something favorable for this book. This one is kind of minor so I'll stick it here: are you saying that in all of your one night stands, no one ever had to go to the bathroom after? I think that would have made more sense if this was a 24 hour curse or something, but maybe that's too close to 50 First Dates. The out of sight, out of mind aspect makes a lot of sense for other scenarios, just weird for all of the nights spent with people. Also, I could have done without the final scene with Addie. Like girl, get over yourself!
Be warned: there is some pretty dark stuff in this book. Besides the fact that Addie lived through wars and some pretty horrific stuff, there are some things with mental illnesses and abusive relationships that I could see being pretty harmful to some people. Please heed the content warnings!
There are definitely people that I would recommend this book to, but I don't think I'll reread it.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Drug use
hanngigi'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: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Abandonment
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and War
ladybug12793'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
4.5
Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
Minor: Death of parent
soyabeanos'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
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War
faithtaylor'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? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
just_one_more_chapter_ok's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Suicidal thoughts
reneek's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Minor: Cancer, Drug use, Sexual content, and Classism
razz_otter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
Graphic: Emotional abuse
One of the key relationships is an emotionally abusive relationship.