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Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'
You Have to Make Your Own Fun Around Here by Frances Macken
2 reviews
carlytenille's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
lizardbet's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
i want to actually follow through and take a rock and bash evelyn over the head :)
This book was an absolutely charming and surprisingly dark story covering the lives and growth of a group of friends from their childhood in rural Ireland to their early adulthood and forays into relationships and careers.
The characters were all disarmingly real in that I can identify traits that I recognize from people in my own life, and occasionally extremely unlikeable. Our POV character Katie is often witty and it is entertaining to have a look into her head and her thoughts about the world and people around her, but I also needed to continue to remind myself that she is not necessarily a reliable narrator, when she makes extremely biased and occasionally very cruel judgements about the people she interacts with, and she herself has many flaws of her own.
The friendship between the group of girls in this book is both extremely realistic and relatable to many people (though not a universal critique of female friendships nor do I think it's meant to be) and also extremely reflective of how growing up in a small town in such a small community can affect your interpersonal growth. Katie and her two friends, Evelyn and Maeve, grew up together, and were less friends by choice and more by space and circumstance. The entire book does an incredible job at reflecting how this concept of not really being able to choose your friends creates both a very close relationship, and a certain toxic codependency and resentment that really underlies most of the character interactions.
This book covers a very broad span of time yet still seems to be paced rather slowly most of the time, focusing on characters and their emotions rather than any specific plot, although this isn't necessarily a baad thing. Despite this, for a lot of the story I found myself generally more invested in the murder mystery in what is essentially the C plot, and was a bit dissatisfied by the end when nothing was officially confirmed either way. Upon reflection however, I found that I actually really liked that the end wasn't really about this and that it was left open ended. While this plot point was there to add intrigue and excitement, it wasn't really the point of the story, and it was left open to us really just as it was for Katie as the POV character. (Also I got the chance to essentially interrogate the author and left feeling rather self-congratulatory regarding a personal theory of mine, so that kind of helped.)
I did read this with a book club, and many of the people I spoke with generally found the ending underwhelming, and while I don't completely agree I do see why people might have that opinion.
In conclusion:
maeve deserved better
the twins deserved better
aidan needs therapy
actually they all need therapy
katie's mom ftw
This book was an absolutely charming and surprisingly dark story covering the lives and growth of a group of friends from their childhood in rural Ireland to their early adulthood and forays into relationships and careers.
The characters were all disarmingly real in that I can identify traits that I recognize from people in my own life, and occasionally extremely unlikeable. Our POV character Katie is often witty and it is entertaining to have a look into her head and her thoughts about the world and people around her, but I also needed to continue to remind myself that she is not necessarily a reliable narrator, when she makes extremely biased and occasionally very cruel judgements about the people she interacts with, and she herself has many flaws of her own.
The friendship between the group of girls in this book is both extremely realistic and relatable to many people (though not a universal critique of female friendships nor do I think it's meant to be) and also extremely reflective of how growing up in a small town in such a small community can affect your interpersonal growth. Katie and her two friends, Evelyn and Maeve, grew up together, and were less friends by choice and more by space and circumstance. The entire book does an incredible job at reflecting how this concept of not really being able to choose your friends creates both a very close relationship, and a certain toxic codependency and resentment that really underlies most of the character interactions.
This book covers a very broad span of time yet still seems to be paced rather slowly most of the time, focusing on characters and their emotions rather than any specific plot, although this isn't necessarily a baad thing. Despite this, for a lot of the story I found myself generally more invested in
I did read this with a book club, and many of the people I spoke with generally found the ending underwhelming, and while I don't completely agree I do see why people might have that opinion.
In conclusion:
maeve deserved better
the twins deserved better
aidan needs therapy
actually they all need therapy
katie's mom ftw
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Murder and Grief
Minor: Cancer
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