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cdingler07's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This was slow for me to get into but the last several chapters made me glad I read the book. I wished it got into it more, but the twist was satisfying.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Violence, and Murder
katiejohns's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Murder
orlagal's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
theyellowbrickreader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident and Murder
Moderate: Drug use
rshisler's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Drug use, and Murder
mrsbishopreads's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Murder
Minor: Drug use
juliabristow's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Car accident, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Drug use
okiecozyreader's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I listened to this one for the Jen Hatmaker bookclub. This is one in which there are no likable or good characters. The main character in part one is just awful - she has no remorse, clearly has mental health issues and is sick (buys clothing to copy another woman, obsessively stalks her family, and has relations with a married man of said family- who himself is unlikable). And then we go to part two which maybe gave me hope. She begins as an assistant for a writer (the whole time I thought she was set up for this and I have questions about this). Then they go to Morocco to work on the author’s book. 50% in, you see why the book is a thriller. There were several twists, but many you can see coming - because we are supposed to see how the main character isn’t very smart to put it together herself. I sped through the last half to just find out what happened. I was so disappointed by the ending.
I recently read The Messy Lives of Book People - in which an aspiring author is a cleaning person for a writer and assumes her identity. I liked it a lot. This one has some similarities but instead of it being out of kindness - both women are bat s* crazy (which you know early in the story).
“Maud Dixon was the pen name of a writer who’d published a spectacularly successful debut novel a couple of years earlier called Mississippi Foxtrot. It was about two teenage girls, Maud and Ruby, desperate to escape their tiny hometown of Collyer Springs, Mississippi. They are thwarted at every turn by their age, their gender, their poverty, and the cold indifference of their families. Everything comes to a head when Maud kills a contractor traveling through town on his way to a job in Memphis. He had made the mistake of setting his sights on sixteen-year-old Ruby and refusing to look away. The murder ultimately releases both girls from the clutches of their hometown. One ends up in prison; the other lands a scholarship to Ole Miss.“ ch 1
“Her sense of self slipped from her as easily as a coat slips off the back of a chair. She’d outgrown the girl she’d been in Florida, but how did one go about building up someone new? She tried on moods and personalities like outfits. One day she was interested in ruthlessness. The next, she wanted to be an object of adoration. She put her faith in the transformative power of new boots, liquid eyeliner, and once—terrifyingly—a beret, as if an identity could seep in from the outside, like nicotine from a patch” ch 6
“She never understood people who denied themselves the things they wanted. Her problem was that the things she wanted constantly seemed out of reach.” ch 9
“Where did the name come from, anyway?” Florence asked. (Maud) tapped the ash from her cigarette onto her plate. “The Tennyson poem, Maud…He describes Maud as ‘faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null.’ I just love that.” Ch 14
“I find that people in general are way too scared of making mistakes. Sure, make a plan and do some research, but when it’s time to act, my god, just act.” Ch 16
““Take my word for it,” Helen went on. “If you spend your life looking for fairness you’ll be disappointed. Fairness doesn’t exist. And if it did, it would be boring. It would leave no room for the unexpected. But if you search for greatness—for beauty, for art, for transcendence—those are where the rewards are. That is what makes life worth living.” Ch 24
“Helen had loved power. Not physical power; that was irrelevant. Emotional power, psychological power—that was her currency. She’d enjoyed exercising it just as a musician or a dancer takes simple, sheer pleasure in his craft. In conversation, Helen had dictated the direction and the tone. She constantly withheld information for no good reason, and she’d loved to throw Florence off guard with outlandish assertions. Even Mississippi Foxtrot was, at its heart, an exploration of power—first the power that lecherous Frank wields over Ruby, and then Maud’s, after she wrests it away from him in a single act of violence.” ch 33
“But Florence didn’t let another drop of alcohol pass her lips, and Helen didn’t partake of anything besides cigarettes. It was as if they were slowly moving toward the foreground of a picture, getting sharper and sharper, while everyone else receded into blurriness.” ch 41
I recently read The Messy Lives of Book People - in which an aspiring author is a cleaning person for a writer and assumes her identity. I liked it a lot. This one has some similarities but instead of it being out of kindness - both women are bat s* crazy (which you know early in the story).
“Maud Dixon was the pen name of a writer who’d published a spectacularly successful debut novel a couple of years earlier called Mississippi Foxtrot. It was about two teenage girls, Maud and Ruby, desperate to escape their tiny hometown of Collyer Springs, Mississippi. They are thwarted at every turn by their age, their gender, their poverty, and the cold indifference of their families. Everything comes to a head when Maud kills a contractor traveling through town on his way to a job in Memphis. He had made the mistake of setting his sights on sixteen-year-old Ruby and refusing to look away. The murder ultimately releases both girls from the clutches of their hometown. One ends up in prison; the other lands a scholarship to Ole Miss.“ ch 1
“Her sense of self slipped from her as easily as a coat slips off the back of a chair. She’d outgrown the girl she’d been in Florida, but how did one go about building up someone new? She tried on moods and personalities like outfits. One day she was interested in ruthlessness. The next, she wanted to be an object of adoration. She put her faith in the transformative power of new boots, liquid eyeliner, and once—terrifyingly—a beret, as if an identity could seep in from the outside, like nicotine from a patch” ch 6
“She never understood people who denied themselves the things they wanted. Her problem was that the things she wanted constantly seemed out of reach.” ch 9
“Where did the name come from, anyway?” Florence asked. (Maud) tapped the ash from her cigarette onto her plate. “The Tennyson poem, Maud…He describes Maud as ‘faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null.’ I just love that.” Ch 14
“I find that people in general are way too scared of making mistakes. Sure, make a plan and do some research, but when it’s time to act, my god, just act.” Ch 16
““Take my word for it,” Helen went on. “If you spend your life looking for fairness you’ll be disappointed. Fairness doesn’t exist. And if it did, it would be boring. It would leave no room for the unexpected. But if you search for greatness—for beauty, for art, for transcendence—those are where the rewards are. That is what makes life worth living.” Ch 24
“Helen had loved power. Not physical power; that was irrelevant. Emotional power, psychological power—that was her currency. She’d enjoyed exercising it just as a musician or a dancer takes simple, sheer pleasure in his craft. In conversation, Helen had dictated the direction and the tone. She constantly withheld information for no good reason, and she’d loved to throw Florence off guard with outlandish assertions. Even Mississippi Foxtrot was, at its heart, an exploration of power—first the power that lecherous Frank wields over Ruby, and then Maud’s, after she wrests it away from him in a single act of violence.” ch 33
“But Florence didn’t let another drop of alcohol pass her lips, and Helen didn’t partake of anything besides cigarettes. It was as if they were slowly moving toward the foreground of a picture, getting sharper and sharper, while everyone else receded into blurriness.” ch 41
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Stalking, and Murder
jasmine256's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Car accident, and Murder
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcohol
mfrisk's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Some of the twists were a bit predictable, some ideas could have had a bit more backing to them, and the characters were purposely unlikeable but overall this was a great read with stunning layers to it and ultimately showing the reader how far people will go to achieve what they feel is owed to them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Alcohol