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anonymous_user's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.25
This book made me cry and was very heavy. Definitely check content warnings before reading, I was not fully prepared. The book seriously seemed to include just about every trigger/trauma that ever existed, which felt gratuitous at times. I did think it was well written and engaging, and I cared about Sal and the narrator and Grand. But the ending was extremely sad, and I felt like there were a lot of unanswered questions about how Sal knew things. And the reveal at the end about his kidnapping felt a little bit rushed/out of the blue. Also, I felt like there wasn’t really much lead up to the narrator being queer, and sometimes the jumps between his future/old self and the main timeline felt confusing. Most of the future timeline could’ve been left out in my opinion. But maybe that’s also partially because I read this book very quickly in preparation for a book club. Other reviewers make very valid points about it feeling messed up that the conclusion of the book is essentially absolving the white perpetrators of the lynching and treating Sal as a “magical minority” trope instead of a little boy. Also it didn’t sit right with me that the narrator chose not to end his friend’s suffering but to be a “hero” killing the bad guy…
The relationship between Sal and Grand leading up to his suicide was heartbreaking and hit a bit close to home for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Abandonment
divafern's review against another edition
Absolutely maudlin. Without going too far into it, it tries to do too much. The writing is interesting in some places and yet liberally peppered with laughably bad metaphors and tired stereotypes. Just see the list of content warnings to get a feel for the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol
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