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missmarguerita's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Deadnaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
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
kaki4forks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Update (4.5): I really like this but it's so visceral and triggering that I don't know if I could read it again. So much of the desperation of parenthood hits too close to home for me. The loneliness and isolation of being a stay-at-home-parent. the overstimulation. all of it.
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Medical content, Grief, and Classism
chastitymarie'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
Minor: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, and Grief
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
angel_hardy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
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
caseythereader'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
4.25
- I was there for the examination of queer adult/married life, and how the characters struggled with trying to match heterosexual norms while also losing their connections to other queer people.
- Every character in this book is just horrid and makes such terrible decisions, and yet you can't help but feel for them. It's quite a trick, and Arnett is the master of it.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
samikoonjones's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Alcoholism and Grief
Moderate: Miscarriage
Minor: Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry