leonormsousa's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abortion, Child death, Cancer, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Addiction, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Emotional abuse
nike13's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Miscarriage, Drug abuse, and Child death
otherworlds's review
This was one of my favorite books when I first read it at 16. To an abused child who knew they would never see justice, it was extremely comforting. That was before my trauma broke my body down and left me disabled. Now, rereading this book as a much more politically educated and empathetic 20-year-old who also happens to use mobility aids every day myself, I'm appalled and hurt by the way Fisher talks about disabled people. She regularly calls us "cripples", says we're "only half people", not "whole", and a litany of other vicious insults. Her one disabled character is alternatively degraded, or fetishized and used as inspiration porn.
No less grievous is her treatment of fat people. The entire narrative is full of creatively cruel descriptors for Margo's body as a fat person. Instead of learning to accept herself, Margo has to become thin to succeed in her life and progress in her character arc. Even the way she becomes thin is unrealistic and insulting - as if you can become thin just through exercise and good eating, as if fatness is only a temporary punishment for a bad lifestyle, as if many people won't be fat no matter what they do.
The descriptions of the few non-white characters are also very violently racist. Fisher described a Polynesian woman as "exotic" and had her be the first abuser Margo, a white woman, killed.
This is secondary, of course, but this book also suffers from severe 2edgy4u syndrome. So much of this book isn't true to real life violence or gray morality at all, but wish fulfillment without any relatability or substance. Not that wish fulfillment is bad, but when it's a published book, it NEEDS to be tempered by realism and good storytelling.
Not to mention that whole "Is Judah real or not?" bullshit. It's SO cheap and stupid. Also, it's so insulting to actual psychotic people. A hallucination isn't going to interact with other people outside of the psychotic person. A hallucination does NOT go as far as Judah does in regards to his interactions with other people. Additionally, there was NO foreshadowing for it at all. Again, it's just edginess for edgy's sake.
So, my recommendation is: don't read this book.
No less grievous is her treatment of fat people. The entire narrative is full of creatively cruel descriptors for Margo's body as a fat person. Instead of learning to accept herself, Margo has to become thin to succeed in her life and progress in her character arc. Even the way she becomes thin is unrealistic and insulting - as if you can become thin just through exercise and good eating, as if fatness is only a temporary punishment for a bad lifestyle, as if many people won't be fat no matter what they do.
The descriptions of the few non-white characters are also very violently racist. Fisher described a Polynesian woman as "exotic" and had her be the first abuser Margo, a white woman, killed.
This is secondary, of course, but this book also suffers from severe 2edgy4u syndrome. So much of this book isn't true to real life violence or gray morality at all, but wish fulfillment without any relatability or substance. Not that wish fulfillment is bad, but when it's a published book, it NEEDS to be tempered by realism and good storytelling.
Not to mention that whole "Is Judah real or not?" bullshit. It's SO cheap and stupid. Also, it's so insulting to actual psychotic people. A hallucination isn't going to interact with other people outside of the psychotic person. A hallucination does NOT go as far as Judah does in regards to his interactions with other people. Additionally, there was NO foreshadowing for it at all. Again, it's just edginess for edgy's sake.
So, my recommendation is: don't read this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, and Violence
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