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aileron'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
2.0
Graphic: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Classism
Minor: Racism, Medical content, and Colonisation
annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
i want to talk about the ending. at first i was disappointed, asking myself how the author could think that's a good place to stop. but i read it back and there's more to it:
Moderate: Biphobia, Cursing, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Abortion, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Colonisation
james1star's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
What I liked: there were definitely some memorable quotes and snippets and impactful parts. The writing is âgoodâ and for the most part understandable, with somewhat lyrical or at least complex (Iâm not that good at explaining) descriptions of things. It did have some witty and interesting takes in parts that made me LOL. The book also deals with quite a lot of topics e.g. class, relationships, power dynamics, sexuality, minor alludes to racism (Iâll develop in a sec) among others which is good but I personally donât feel they were dealt with the best but Yhh⌠I dunno.
Moderate: Classism
Minor: Drug use, Racism, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Colonisation
antoniav's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Infidelity and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Homophobia and Rape
Minor: Racism and Sexism
skudiklier'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
4.5
"The best wedges of words were the ones my eight-year-olds wrote: I like her face. With her I am happy. I wished Iâd never learned more advanced grammar and could only make sentences like that. It would give me an excuse to say them aloud."
Anyway. This book didn't really go anywhere and I'm not sure the characters are very good in any real way, but I enjoyed the narration for sure. It's interesting and I'd recommend it to some people, but not everyone.
Graphic: Biphobia, Cursing, and Infidelity
Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Lesbophobia, and Colonisation
Minor: Racism
hello_lovely13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Rape
Minor: Sexual assault and Abortion
sewn_up'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
3.5
Minor: Racism, Rape, and Sexism
coreysbooks's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
âď¸âď¸/5 for me
Main character doesnât get a lot of character development, a love triangle between our bisexual main character and her male roomie banker and a female lovely lawyer. Our main character is kind of cruel, she blatantly used both people, and then goes back to the banker in the end. Sheâs dishonest, and uses the people she âlovesâ. I think the only reason I finished is I loved the voice of the audiobook narrator.
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Toxic relationship, Cultural appropriation, and Toxic friendship
tecryouapart's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
2.0
I was willing to pass off a lot of the casual racism as just being a character flaw of Ava's, but because she was never really criticised, nor was it ever stated that the things she was saying were wrong, it didn't feel like they were supposed to be a flaw? It just felt like they were author's own unconscious (racist) biases rather than Ava's. I always felt like she was coming across as very 'I'm not like the other (white) ExPats, I'm different' despite continuously proving to be the exact same. Also wasn't a fan of how Ava treated Edith; she was very condescending and patronising imo, and it almost felt like she'd taken on that toxic aspect of Julian. This might have been an intentional reflection of the relationship but idk, I didn't really like it.
Moderate: Racism
nzmerchant'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
3.5
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Homophobia and Sexual content
Minor: Racism and Sexism