Scan barcode
chainsawheartbooks'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
2.5
Was this a good insight into certain gender roles and the thoughts people have when their lives become almost stagnant? Yes.
Did I enjoy it? Not really.
The first half was much better than the latter, which felt more like I was just witnessing the protagonist wander between places, and I think there’s certainly an audience for this book, I just don’t think I fall into it.
I will say, however, that it was well written; Ingalls knew how to craft a character while letting the plot follow the person, as opposed to the other way around.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, and Alcohol
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
mal_hawthorne's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Child death and Car accident
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, and Alcohol
Minor: Drug use and Miscarriage
applesodaperson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I really liked the fish guy actually. He had a very matter of fact personality, and was just the right amount of unexplained and mysterious. This book was also the perfect length and was better being a short book. The sort of ambiguous ending worked well too, because you never really find out if the fish guy
There were definitely a lot of themes around grief in this book. When it starts, the main character is grieving the death of her child, which is causing the gulf between her and her husband.
Overall, this book was really good and very surreal, but I feel like there was some larger metaphor that i was not understanding. Like the fish guy was supposed to symbolize something deeper, but I just either missed it or didn't have the media literacy skills to decipher it.
Listened to on Libby.
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Child death and Violence
kaiyakaiyo'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? Yes
2.5
I liked that in the end Larry was too other, too non-human to continue functioning as Dorothy’s escape or to truly care about human life. I love when authors depict the realistic divide between humanoids; other beings have no reason to talk, think, or act like we do given their separate evolutionary path. I also liked the prose; the sentences were so crisp and concise. It felt like snack reading.
That being said, -2 stars for:
- the sheer amount of fucking salad and veggie descriptions
- the sometimes hard to keep track of quippy dialogue between Dorothy and Estelle
- the car crash… what an unnecessarily messy conclusion to a whimper of a set of affairs
- Could Sandra have been his kid??????? GROSS
- Estelle also fucking Dorothy’s husband. her knowing who the man was and not telling Dorothy was enough of a betrayal to warrant the silly ending. The rest felt contrived
- Dorothy finally being free of her cheating, unsupportive husband and perfidious bff, only to be miserable at home looking for a froggy fling that isn’t coming back. she has a lot to work on internally, but the book ended with her not even trying. just going through the same motions.
idk this just wasn’t my cup of tea. i got to the last page and audibly scoffed. what was the point in all that retrospection on humanity and friendship and love just to end the book sad & yearning for a frog in between haunting your uncaught sex offender husbands grave. ugh
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia
Moderate: Child abuse and Death
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, and Forced institutionalization
m_liz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death and Infidelity
Minor: Sexual content
laura227_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Minor: Miscarriage and Sexual content
kananineko'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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Miscarriage and Xenophobia
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Car accident
mermaidsherbet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
ottercorg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This was easy, funny, and pleasant. I loved the conversations, particularly between Dorothy and Estelle - they felt so natural and real, as if I was right there in the room with them.
I enjoyed Ingalls’ writing style, and enjoyed the plot. The only reason I’m not giving it a full 5 stars is because the ending was SO fast I nearly got whiplash and it was almost hard to follow. The pace suits the events of the ending, but still, I would’ve appreciated a little more.
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Car accident, Murder, and Alcohol
nialiversuch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Sexual content