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cheesy_reads's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Child death and Grief
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide
heather_e's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Suicide, Terminal illness, and Injury/Injury detail
othersociologist'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? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Child death and Suicide
jyb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
One of the things I really did like was the vibes of this book. It was lonely, melancholy, and haunting, and it gave the story a good edge where it needed it. It really echoed the meaning of the title. I also like that the characters have plenty (plenty) of flaws. I came into this book kind of expecting it to be a psychological horror-esque story where an innocent couple has bad shit happen to them in the country, or whatever, but no! Very much not that, and I'm glad my expectations were subverted. I also liked that a good amount of the characters and the characters' reactions/interactions were pretty unpredictable and kept me on my toes
Now, onto the stuff I wasn't a fan of.
First off all, this book was painfully hard to keep reading. Initially, it wasn't exactly boring. It was the strange issue of "I'm not bored when I'm reading it, but if I put it down I can't bring myself to pick it up again." Eventually, it did kind of get hard to push through it because the plot just dragged, but that was what I felt for a solid chunk of the book. This was a short story that could've taken me a couple days to finish if I was actually really interesting, but instead it took me an annoying ten days. The book was filled with nice prose, but when it felt like nothing was happening and we just kept getting weird scenes (I'll get there) and unexplained reactions from the main characters, I was just like can we hurry this up already? God.
I did talk about how I liked that the characters have flaws, but honestly, the main characters were so flawed that they just felt kind of insufferable. There were some sweet moments between them, but at times they felt so asshole-ish that I didn't really want to keep reading from their point of view. Honestly, they really only got interesting when it's revealed that
Regarding the "weird scenes" I mentioned... I'm wondering if it's just a different culture or something (I noticed this was translated from French) because... there's scenes where this guy,
As for another scene... I usually don't read trigger warnings or anything of the sort, and to be honest, it isn't treated as something fine, but seeing an abrupt basically
And then the ending itself (which was actually spoiled in the beginning, which I originally wasn't a huge fan of) feels like it comes out of nowhere.
There also this random thing about an antenna being a huge deal in the town, but I never really understood it. I've talked a lot, so I won't really get into it, but it was honestly kind of confusing that it was so important in the story. Maybe just a me thing – I'm not from the country.
Overall, interesting vibes and characters, bogged down mostly by an incredibly slow plot. With extra tidbits such as insufferable characters, weird scenes, and baffling story decisions, I'm giving this 2.25 stars. The vibes were decent, and I liked the
Graphic: Child death, Sexual assault, and Suicide
oversherin's review
3.5
Moderate: Child death, Suicide, and Grief
toppoptart'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
3.0
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Infertility
Minor: Infidelity
elyssajoh's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Abortion
pitythebeast'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
3.5
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Sexual assault
regnistegra's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Infertility, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, and Alcohol
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
clarxvizconde13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Suicide, and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Rape, Abortion, and Sexual harassment