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mwalsh97's review
- 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? N/A
4.5
It’s beautiful, it’s dark, it fucking weird. And it was utterly amazing. This is the kind of book that should be in high school English classes.
Add-on as of 7/3: I have not been able to stop thinking about this book. I like it more and more as it marinates in my brain.
Moderate: Body horror, Misogyny, and Alcohol
Minor: Pregnancy
ash_tambora's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Racism
beckhaze's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
frazzzzle'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
4.0
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Misogyny, Violence, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity
helloits_sam's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Ableism and Misogyny
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Medical content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Violence, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, and War
skywhales'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
3.25
i was fascinated by this premise as soon as i heard about it. the idea of humans basically being a blip on the galactic scale. the cockroaches in the rest stop of the universe. aliens who just stopped by and left a bunch of weird shit around that no one knows how to clean up. the Science Fiction in this book was good. the world it created was gritty but interesting. this book's tone is...mostly depressing, pretty much all the way through. which i don't usually love in my normal reads but i already knew going in that in lots of ways this would be a departure from my normal reads. and despite the extreme open endedness of it (another thing i don't usually enjoy) the ending was very poignant, and i believe it'll be the thing that sticks with me the most from this book.
i know you can't judge older books by the standard of the modern era or whatever but god the sexism was a MAJOR factor that impacted my enjoyment of the book. every woman being someone's girlfriend or wife or daughter and reduced to a meaningless sex object or (in the monkey's case) a catalyst for growth from the protagonist. dina's one personality trait was getting called a slut by men fifteen years older than her. a man apparently has a running joke about SAVING HIMSELF FOR AN EIGHT YEAR OLD. the usage of "young men" vs "girls." my expectations were low but this went lower. yuck.
most of the characters were relatively unlikable, but that added to the grim and generally crappy world they lived in and didn't really turn me off from the book, since this isn't really the kind of thing i'm reading for great lovable character design.
in general i think the actual, central "roadside picnic" was the best and most engaging part of the story. i might have liked this better if it had been even shorter, like novella length, because then maybe they wouldn't have gone into detail on all the shit i disliked (the fucking misogyny) and centralized the stuff i read it for in the first place. but my regular disclaimer: maybe i'm just uncultured.
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, and Alcohol
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Pedophilia
discodetective's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Moderate: Misogyny
mlewis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Misogyny, and War
Minor: Pregnancy and Pandemic/Epidemic
saraaaa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Grief, and Alcohol
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Body shaming, Misogyny, and Racism