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janienejulia'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Miscarriage, Vomit, and Abortion
ashleyjean6'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Pregnancy
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Classism
jupiter5's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Mental illness and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Minor: Drug abuse, Vomit, and Death of parent
laurafrances's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Miscarriage and Abortion
Minor: Suicide and Vomit
theminimalistbookclub's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness and Pregnancy
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Vomit
amibo'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? Yes
4.5
The descriptions of pregnancy and motherhood and birth are hilariously pitch-perfect. The descriptions of mental illness are heartbreakingly real.
This book is extremely funny, and almost unbearably sad, and I wanted to strangle characters, and hug them, and fix them, and in the end, hope for and with them.
Graphic: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Vomit
_inge's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
I think a big part of it is knowing from the start how this book will end. There’s nothing to read towards to. I’m all for character driven stories, but the only conflicts and meaningful interactions appeared in the last 50-100 pages or so. There was nothing to drive the story; Martha only figures things out late in the book, and it’s only then that we see characters engaging with her issues and the story can really come to life. Especially in the early stages of the book I felt so bored, everything I read felt so pointless. The main characters felt very neutral too (Patrick didn’t feel likeable nor did Martha feel unlikeable, as I’ve seen reviews describe), I think because they were described in a passive tone, so this entire book blended together into a neutral blur.
I think the pacing is another aspect that felt off. Every sentence was incredibly long, stretching 4 lines at times. Often these parts felt trivial to the story as well. There were shorter paragraphs to break things up, but these often contained information which added nothing to the story or characters whatsoever.
When Martha does finally get a diagnosis for her mental illness, and the story seems to get interesting, it’s described as ‘ - ‘. We read about her finally getting an assessment, we read what people around her think of her illness, and Martha spends time googling her symptoms and coming to terms with what this diagnoses means to her. It’s probably the most important part of this book, so then why isn’t the diagnoses stated? Is it so the author can make a statement about how you can still be an awful person, as one of the characters remarks?! At the end of this book there’s even a note that this mental illness is a fictional one, the treatments and symptoms are all made up. Why?? The novel emphasises the importance of labels and diagnoses, the entire book is based around mental health - why would you make up a mental illness? Especially one that’s so rooted in reality?! If this was meant to be a statement of sorts, I fail to grasp why the author makes us curious as to what the illness actually is by having Martha discuss it with others and exploring what it means to her - surely if it wasn’t about her specific illness you’d leave all this out, because now we will speculate on what it could be.
I really wanted to DNF this but I stuck through it to figure out why this book didn’t work for me. Though the story became more interesting as it went on, the ‘ - ‘ diagnosis part frustrated me too much to even enjoy the final segments.
Graphic: Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Vomit, and Alcohol
Minor: Death
rosalind'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? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Infertility, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Miscarriage, Abortion, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, and Vomit
waybeyondblue's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Pregnancy
Minor: Vomit