Reviews

Marilou is Everywhere by Sarah Elaine Smith

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sarahbryson's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

3.0

sanmeow's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

a book about cindy, a 14 year old girl living in a dysfunctional family. cindy is practically constantly in danger and her mother is barely ever there. when a girl called jude disappears, cindy starts living jude's life. she moves in with jude's mom, who has some sort of brain injury and as a result, has memory issues, so she doesn't realize that cindy isn't actually jude. jude's mother is far from perfect, but at least she pays attention to cindy and shows her love and affection sometimes. she has more money and a more secure home than cindy's family. and so, despite it not being perfect, cindy stays with her out of desperation to feel some maternal love. it's way better than her previous situation - living with two brothers, one of them regularly touching cindy inappropriately, and a mother who comes and goes whenever she pleases.
i enjoyed the characters in this book, many weren't likable but i thought they were well done for this story. cindy's emotions were especially beautifully showcased, mostly her longing for love and her confusion. the writing style did throw me off a little bit, because it very much made the novel sound like a YA book and i don't think it was fitting for the theme.

kristie5's review against another edition

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4.0

I hadn't heard much about this book before reading it, but I'm so glad that I picked it up. This was extremely well written and emotional and I couldn't put it down.

haleydavis112's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

julienbakerstan69's review against another edition

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3.0

qt16: cottagecore but make it found family and obstruction of justice

“jude said she didn’t intend to waste her life on me, and i was hurt. i didn’t know what she meant. but now i think: i don’t intend to waste my life on me either. not on my mother, not on clinton, not on myself, not on the flames of old hurt. i do not care to stand in the doorway of myself, making a list of punishments.”