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sadig27'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
shoohoob's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol
knkoch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I suppose this felt like a very accurate portrayal of difficult people, and of selfish, irresponsible personalities. I can’t say I truly enjoyed the reckless ride, although it was certainly a gripping story. I wavered between empathy and distaste for the characters, similar to my discomfort with White Ivy. I’m curious to see if I can find any interviews where Kristen Arnett talks about her goals for this book. If you’re into very dark, twisted literary fiction, this one’s for you!
Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Stalking
Not trying to tick all the boxes, but this touches on quite a few difficult subjects.undeniableemg'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Religious bigotry
abbie_'s review against another edition
4.0
Reminded me a bit of We Need to Talk About Kevin, but not as dark! I also didn’t see the point in the page-long interludes told from the POVs of extremely minor characters who come into contact with Sammy throughout the novel. They felt like a creative writing exercise, something that the author jotted down while writing to make her main characters seem more 3D but then accidentally included.
But still a very good read especially if you love a messy book
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Kidnapping
anxiousnachos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
5.0
Did I turn almost 30 and then start unintentionally reading several books that examine the horrific monstrosity of motherhood, my deep fear of having a child when you are clearly not suited to having one, and cementing my desire to not have children.
This is incredible storytelling, despite the lack of plot. It is a character study of a mother through her eyes as she raises a son she hates (and loves) in unequal measure. Interspersed with short extracts from characters who witness the events unfold around this family, we see the story of a queer family revealed in new light. It is a visceral and humid study of the unreliable narrator, expertly told. Very dark and very horrific and had me on the edge of my seat in horror throughout. It has cemented Kristen Arnott as one of my favourite contemporary writers.
Content warnings: emotional and financial abuse, toxic relationship, child abuse, cheating, animal cruelty, sexual assault, attempted kidnapping
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping
belovedb33's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
When I finished the book, I still had plenty of questions.
I wish that I could have gotten Samson’s or Monika’s perspective at the end— I think that would have allowed for a conclusion to many of the plot strands that were just left hanging.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Stalking
Moderate: Homophobia, Grief, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Animal cruelty and Kidnapping
mlovesbooks's review against another edition
I couldn't help but feel so angry and frustrated. I assume that's the intention; you shouldn't like our main character, but it was too much.
Maybe I'll eventually finish it but today is not that day.
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book had me by the throat from the first sentence and then it wouldn't let me go for the next five days. It didn't matter what I was doing, I wanted to pick this up and shut out the world. Don't get me wrong, it's not a riveting tale or anything. It's not plot driven at all, it's mainly a character study of Sammie and how she's clearly very troubled and was never meant to be a mother. I hated her with every fiber of my being. I hated her on every page, every sentence. She was at best, whiny, and at worst, violent. It was crazy how unreliable of a narrator she was. She also struck me as someone who would go to a Planned Parenthood protest on the weekend, but I'm not going to tell you why.
I was so fascinated by this terrible character and her terrible interactions with her son and wife, fascinated by her dealing with religious trauma, her hypocrisy, her complete inability to connect with her son and then complaining about how he was suuuuch a problem. It was insane. The behavior of everyone in this book is absolutely unhinged, but Sammie takes the cake.
It's safe to say this book had my attention, but that being said, the writing wasn't really remarkable and the references to teeth (other people's teeth, what Sammie's teeth were doing, biting, etc) seemed a bit shoe-horned in and obvious at times. I also thought I was going to combust at times at how ableist the treatment of Samson as a character was. You can chalk that up to his parents being bad people - and they are, but it was just too much for me and it made me *too* angry.
Anyway I know that I'm probably going to read a lot of GR reviews calling this bad lesbian rep, but sometimes even queer people are bad and unhinged, and I think it's important to write about that. Argue with the wall. Overall, a really intriguing read.
I forgot to mention that there are little vignettes at the end of every chapter that show contrast between how Sammie sees certain situations happening in a chapter vs. what an outsider experiences and I think they were genuinely my favorite part of the book and I can't believe I didn't mention this somewhere above. Oops! Here it is.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Miscarriage and Murder
Minor: Pedophilia and Rape
sshabein's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Minor: Animal cruelty