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novella42'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
I just need to say... Please don't take this book's depiction of non-monogamy as representative of how to do an ethically open marriage. Holy hell. I feel at a loss to list all the ways Edie and Eric and Rebecca torture each other needlessly. It's a fascinating train wreck to watch, and I found myself looking at my own polycule with renewed gratitude and affection. Leilani doesn't let any of the characters off the hook, and if a lot of their behaviors seem inexplicable to you, well, you won't be alone.
As to the book itself, I appreciated the lyrical, almost psychadelic writing. (If you don't like pose poetry or stream-of-consciousness writing, maybe pass on this one.) Leilani revels in dark Millennial existential dread that kept shocking laughter out of me. She's fantastic at descriptive phrases that catch you off-guard with their originality. I marveled at some of them, their poetic pacing and expansive assumptions, so much I started collecting a list:
"I am suspended in a lurid hypnagogic loop."
"It is impossible to see another black woman on her way up, impossible to see that meticulous, polyglottal origami and not, as a black woman yourself, fall a little bit in love."
"A sudden and swiftly contained conniption."
"Hooked into peripheral intuition."
"The city's breakneck, multilingual carousel."
"Some inconceivable boss-level of concentrated loneliness."
"The bike lanes in Manhattan already terrifying at 11:00 a.m., filled with delivery boys and girls who jet into traffic with fried rice and no reason to live, along with the sentient abdominals who do this for fun."
"The lawn buzzed and alkaline, the vinegar in the wine and carnage in the dew, everywhere the perfume of things that want to live."
I can't imagine what it's like to narrate this as an audiobook, because the rhythm of the words is beautiful and also relentless. Leilani is skilled at pulling you deep into the bewildering internal labyrinth of mental illness and immersive, uncomfortable experiences.
If you carry any traumas, I recommend browsing the full list of content tags. I almost couldn't make it through the scenes with gore and body horror, though Edie's dissociative skills and the eye of an artist made it slightly more bearable. I'm glad I got it in hardcopy instead of audio, so I could skim over difficult dark passages. There were lots of those. I'm not sure why I kept reading, except that I was fascinated. It was hard to look away.
One last thing, a recommendation for anyone who likes disco. I genuinely think one reason I enjoyed this book as much as I did was that in the first 15 pages, Edie references her connection to Idris Muhammad's 1977 song "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This." On a whim, I made a Spotify station out of it and I have to say, it complimented the book and let me surrender to the undertow.
Beautiful writing about broken people living a surreal, twisted story.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence, Vomit, and Car accident
Minor: Cancer, Rape, Excrement, Stalking, and Abandonment
somelibrarychick's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Racial slurs
Moderate: Cancer, Drug use, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Physical abuse and Suicide
sib_reads'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
1.5
Graphic: Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol
annie_122's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Blood, and Excrement
Moderate: Death and Medical content
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, and Racism
adoras's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This left me feeling melancholy. This is one of those books I love but don't feel that I have a lot to say about, maybe because I need to let it sit with me for a while. I enjoyed going in not knowing too much, although I saw someone compare it to Fleabag and in a lot of ways I think that's perfect. For some reason, I can't quite bump my rating up to five stars, but I really enjoyed this, now want to own a physical copy, and am excited to read more by Raven Leilani.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Abortion, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, and Police brutality
Minor: Cancer and Mental illness
cheye13'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
My critiques, if implimented, would have ruined the book. There was no thread of whimsy to brighten it, which was intentional. The story didn't really kick off until the mid-point, but the depth of the opening was integral. I preferred reading about Rebecca and Akila and wished Eric were less present, but there would be no Rebecca or Akila in Edie's life without Eric.
This novel portrays the tragedy of Edie's reality in the most beautiful way possible, but the portrayal is too faithful to reality for me.
Graphic: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Medical content
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Police brutality, Abortion, and Death of parent
Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Cursing, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Vomit, and Car accident
amelreads's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Death of parent
Moderate: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, and Police brutality
Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, and Gun violence
Age gap relationship.