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lemon_reads's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and War
heyalexcurran's review
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and War
queeenbean16's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
No book has ever made me cry as much as this one. I felt so much for Frankie and felt like I learned a lot about a time period I knew little about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, and War
Moderate: Miscarriage and Suicide attempt
Minor: Torture
kjames8279's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I absolutely fell in love with this book even though it completely destroyed me. I recommend it to anyone willing to listen to me about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, War, and Injury/Injury detail
emilymarleymorris's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and War
miagic_tome's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book tore me apart.
I started the audiobook without realizing that one of my favorite narrators was reading. Julia Whelhan’s narration, wide array of voices and accents, and ability to bring out the emotions on the page are phenomenal, and this was no exception.
I didn’t know what I was getting into by picking up this book, and going in blind meant I was knocked off my feet time and time again. The visual descriptions were equal parts vivid and horrifying. Being inside Frankie’s mind felt so real as her life was upended again and again. I enjoyed the long winding route Frankie took to get where she ended up and while I don’t know if I could read this book again, I definitely think it earned its place on the bestseller lists
I started the audiobook without realizing that one of my favorite narrators was reading. Julia Whelhan’s narration, wide array of voices and accents, and ability to bring out the emotions on the page are phenomenal, and this was no exception.
I didn’t know what I was getting into by picking up this book, and going in blind meant I was knocked off my feet time and time again. The visual descriptions were equal parts vivid and horrifying. Being inside Frankie’s mind felt so real as her life was upended again and again. I enjoyed the long winding route Frankie took to get where she ended up and while I don’t know if I could read this book again, I definitely think it earned its place on the bestseller lists
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Sexism, Blood, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Car accident, Abandonment, and Alcohol
skylarkblue1's review against another edition
sad
medium-paced
- 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
0.25
To start with: There is no named Vietnamese character, Frankie's whole life is dictated by men and she only just follows men around, the book seems to think Vietnamese women only wear áo dàis and completely ignores the Vietnamese women who fought in the war and even supported Americans (in more ways than just serving them Jack Daniels...).
Frankie is a rich, spoilt brat who's main goal is just to have her father proud of her. Her whole life is dictated and saved by men, and there's no point where she breaks out of that. In fact, even at the end of the book, she's still chasing men. She's really not likeable, and despite the book trying SO hard to *tell* you she's strong, she really doesn't feel like that. Veterans have an incredibly high rate of homelessness and are unable to get medical care in any regard. Frankie has 0 issues with any of that, she never has money problems, she's gifted homes, and easily gets medical care.
The rest of the characters feel really 1 dimensional. And there's no even half-way decent man in the story - except one, who's treated really badly by Frankie honestly.
This book seems to pack in every single tragedy it can, it's kind of impressive and if you played a drinking game where you take a shot for every tragedy your liver absolutely wouldn't exist afterwards. The amount of tragedies is about the same as the amount of wild coincidences. What do you mean Frankie just happens to be in the right place at the right time every single time for every situation? What do you mean that some random-ass person gets news about an event with Frankie's family before Frankie does just a couple days after said event (while halfway across the country??)? Even the ending with the love interests gets fucking insane quickly with the sheer coincidences and also overused tropes.
Every single lazy writing trope you can think of, is used here. It's all telling and not showing, everything works out for the protag without much issue at all, so much padding and overused tropes and it's just a mess honestly. I went into this without reading anything about it, or knowing anything about any of her other books, but it seems like a few of the plot beats in this are repeated in multiple of her other books as well..
There is no subtly, no nuance and no proper consideration done towards the country and culture of Vietnam. There's no actual Vietnamese characters, and from what I can tell no Vietnamese people mentioned in the acknowledgements either. Which is kind of wild because it seems like there was actually a decent amount of research done into what the American life was in the army and such over there and coming back home. The PTSD portrayal was also somewhat decent - even if there was more focus on the spiralling and substance abuse than how she got better...
The book doesn't even try and tackle the issue of America being the one fucking over everyone in the war that hard. Yes it does mention that a bit, but it's more in off-hand comments and doesn't really try and *actually* talk about it - instead it just changes topic to romance more often than not.
I think this really sums up what I feel is wrong with "feminist fiction" honestly. Trying far too hard to try and go "look, women strong!" without really saying.. why? Or even just actually writing men like they're a person and not just a sole personification for the patriarchy.
Maybe if you want to write a petty messy romance, don't use the Vietnam war as just a atmospheric backdrop.
Frankie is a rich, spoilt brat who's main goal is just to have her father proud of her. Her whole life is dictated and saved by men, and there's no point where she breaks out of that. In fact, even at the end of the book, she's still chasing men. She's really not likeable, and despite the book trying SO hard to *tell* you she's strong, she really doesn't feel like that. Veterans have an incredibly high rate of homelessness and are unable to get medical care in any regard. Frankie has 0 issues with any of that, she never has money problems, she's gifted homes, and easily gets medical care.
The rest of the characters feel really 1 dimensional. And there's no even half-way decent man in the story - except one, who's treated really badly by Frankie honestly.
This book seems to pack in every single tragedy it can, it's kind of impressive and if you played a drinking game where you take a shot for every tragedy your liver absolutely wouldn't exist afterwards. The amount of tragedies is about the same as the amount of wild coincidences. What do you mean Frankie just happens to be in the right place at the right time every single time for every situation? What do you mean that some random-ass person gets news about an event with Frankie's family before Frankie does just a couple days after said event (while halfway across the country??)? Even the ending with the love interests gets fucking insane quickly with the sheer coincidences and also overused tropes.
Every single lazy writing trope you can think of, is used here. It's all telling and not showing, everything works out for the protag without much issue at all, so much padding and overused tropes and it's just a mess honestly. I went into this without reading anything about it, or knowing anything about any of her other books, but it seems like a few of the plot beats in this are repeated in multiple of her other books as well..
There is no subtly, no nuance and no proper consideration done towards the country and culture of Vietnam. There's no actual Vietnamese characters, and from what I can tell no Vietnamese people mentioned in the acknowledgements either. Which is kind of wild because it seems like there was actually a decent amount of research done into what the American life was in the army and such over there and coming back home. The PTSD portrayal was also somewhat decent - even if there was more focus on the spiralling and substance abuse than how she got better...
The book doesn't even try and tackle the issue of America being the one fucking over everyone in the war that hard. Yes it does mention that a bit, but it's more in off-hand comments and doesn't really try and *actually* talk about it - instead it just changes topic to romance more often than not.
I think this really sums up what I feel is wrong with "feminist fiction" honestly. Trying far too hard to try and go "look, women strong!" without really saying.. why? Or even just actually writing men like they're a person and not just a sole personification for the patriarchy.
Maybe if you want to write a petty messy romance, don't use the Vietnam war as just a atmospheric backdrop.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, and Pregnancy
Minor: Cancer and Torture
regan92's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and War
Moderate: Infidelity and Miscarriage
sweet_coraline's review
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It was a wild, emotional journey that would've had me throwing the book across the room a few times, had it not been on my phone. But I rushed to keep reading every time, desperate to find out what would happen next. It left me in awe of women and genuinely wanting to learn more about that time in history,and other women who lived it. I absolutely loved the book and would read it again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Racism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt
haley49's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I want to start by saying this was a story that needed to be told. There is not enough literature on Vietnam and this book really explores the erasure of female vets, the treatment of vets, ptsd, addiction and the futility of the war. I appreciated it all.
However, for some reason I went into the book expecting multiple povs and instead got one, very limited pov. I would’ve wished we could’ve had the perspective of a Vietnamese woman and/or a black woman nurse. We see some of this through Frankie’s friend Barb but we are always told not shown things and it made any commentary about racism or classism feel shoehorned in. Plus, the fact that there were no named asian characters is a miss in my opinion. The only perspective about the war is shaped by people tired of the deaths of American soldiers with civilian casualties largely ignored. The author tried but it was a matter of needing more perspectives.
Connected to the problem of needing more perspectives is the fact that Frankie always has a love interest. It was like whack a mole. For a book called the women and only telling one’s story she spent a lot of time centering her story on men. It was not super interesting or new and took valuable page time away from women and the war-related themes. There are multiple points where romantic love is used as a fix-all for main character’s problems. It became melodramatic for a book that is not a drama or a romance.
All of the above issues didn’t make me hate the book but I would have made some changes. Again I did appreciate the themes, mention of historical movements, Barb’s character, the main friend group, and how much Frankie earned her future happiness. The author made her regress before her progress and I appreciate that in a character.
However, for some reason I went into the book expecting multiple povs and instead got one, very limited pov. I would’ve wished we could’ve had the perspective of a Vietnamese woman and/or a black woman nurse. We see some of this through Frankie’s friend Barb but we are always told not shown things and it made any commentary about racism or classism feel shoehorned in. Plus, the fact that there were no named asian characters is a miss in my opinion. The only perspective about the war is shaped by people tired of the deaths of American soldiers with civilian casualties largely ignored. The author tried but it was a matter of needing more perspectives.
Connected to the problem of needing more perspectives is the fact that Frankie always has a love interest. It was like whack a mole. For a book called the women and only telling one’s story she spent a lot of time centering her story on men. It was not super interesting or new and took valuable page time away from women and the war-related themes. There are multiple points where romantic love is used as a fix-all for main character’s problems. It became melodramatic for a book that is not a drama or a romance.
All of the above issues didn’t make me hate the book but I would have made some changes. Again I did appreciate the themes, mention of historical movements, Barb’s character, the main friend group, and how much Frankie earned her future happiness. The author made her regress before her progress and I appreciate that in a character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy
Minor: Ableism, Vomit, and Colonisation