hellomei's review
challenging
dark
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
im pretty sure i bought this in late high school/early college and just never read it. well now i know that was a good thing because this book would have properly fucked my brain up LOL.
starts off really bitesized, with popcorn sized nastiness, but the stories get longer and nastier. the last story (the titular novella) is particularly brutal… this is a Nothing Good Happens book with lots of gratuitous ryona. not usually my style, but it was really fascinating and a good look into how awful the world can be, particularly if you are a woman. i will say all the main characters seem like variations of the same girl but i personally didnt mind it so much as the stories were all still enthralling (which is not something i can say of a lot of story collections). like watching a car crash
really excellent, impactful writing, but of all the freak books i've read this is the one that's made me say "ok time to read something nice and light for a change"
starts off really bitesized, with popcorn sized nastiness, but the stories get longer and nastier. the last story (the titular novella) is particularly brutal… this is a Nothing Good Happens book with lots of gratuitous ryona. not usually my style, but it was really fascinating and a good look into how awful the world can be, particularly if you are a woman. i will say all the main characters seem like variations of the same girl but i personally didnt mind it so much as the stories were all still enthralling (which is not something i can say of a lot of story collections). like watching a car crash
really excellent, impactful writing, but of all the freak books i've read this is the one that's made me say "ok time to read something nice and light for a change"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Classism, Cursing, Death, Medical trauma, and Torture
Moderate: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Violence, and Abandonment
Minor: Fatphobia, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Incest, Racism, Vomit, Homophobia, and Pedophilia
overeating/binge eating, something like dumbification/bimbofication in some of them (mindbreak/sex-crazed), there's a story where the characters are drugged into immobility andSpoiler
left for deadhelloroci's review
2.75
I will say the saving grace of this book is it’s namesake short story. “Inside Madeline” is hard, raw, honest, and very very good. It made getting through this book worth it for me. The rest of the book is just a cliche of the same “bad girl” tropes previously found in The Bell Jar, The Virgin Suicides, Girl,Interrupted, etc. There’s also extensive queer bating and many of the stories involved clearly queer narratives that the author is either knowingly co-opting or she’s somehow too oblivious to where she’s “heard a story like this before” when adding it in—either way it all goes unacknowledged and it only makes the book stranger and nonsensical.
kayleighhunt's review
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
nelleaalto's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
Absolutely horrible
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts
melissafirman's review
Made it through the first two stories ("Eye Socket Girls" and "Breasts") before giving up on this collection. The writing and characters felt flat to me, making the stories themselves less than daring or erotic-two adjectives that have often been used to describe these stories. I can do angry and edgy; I can take some risks as a reader, but this collection wasn't for me.
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