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casualvamp's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Sexual content, and Alcohol
bucklink'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
2.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Minor: Murder
readbycarina's review against another edition
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Vomit, and Stalking
nialiversuch'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
3.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Excrement, and Alcohol
c_serpent's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
There's too much sex in this book for me to pretend to have enjoyed it.
It felt like a collection of short stories I would have been forced to read in a college lit class, and I would come up with something to say in class, and maybe pretend to like a single story, but actually I would have hated it, and I would draw things in the margin of my notebook while the girl I sat next to talked about the sex in the book, and I would be uncomfortable.
Then I would write a three-paragraph comparative essay on three of the stories in the book and what the common theme was in these stories(displacement) and how the author achieved this (by placing every single character in some kind of a fugue state, and using first person to force you into their perspective, and then having the characters do things that are amoral, like not telling a girl she's having a baby or a miscarriage, or lying to random people, or sex with somebody that they have no business even interacting with).
And then I would get an A on the paper, and I would sell the book to Half Price Books and spend the money on a Snickers bar to get me through L203: Intro to Family Law.
One star has been awarded because of the interesting literary voice. Another has been awarded because I could see one of my favorite professors assigning this book, and I loved her, and I hope she's well.
Total score: 2/5 stars
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, and Sexual content
Moderate: Addiction and Racial slurs
Minor: Self harm and Blood
gentryward'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
1.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Pregnancy
emory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
I was puzzled reading this about all the positive reviews I had seen of it. Every story seemed a pointless excuse for Moshfegh to describe something disgusting, insult a random fat side character, and call somebody r*tarded. A few of the later stories, such as Slumming, The Beach Boy, and A Better Place were (comparatively) charming and driven, but the abrupt endings in the latter of these two were discouraging.
The only saving grace I could find for these stories was that Moshfegh is clearly creative in thinking of vignettes of different shades of upsetting people. However, I don't feel as if her writing was strong enough to carry them. Each sentence was short and blunt. The simple sentences lent themselves to the subject matter I suppose, but it was not an artful or particularly nice reading experience. It read more like the begrudging English assignment of a super senior than that of a critically acclaimed author. Not to mention none of her characters were distinguishable from one another. All spoke with the same voice. The most discription anything received were fat characters that Moshfegh seemed to delight in calling disgusting and horrible. And anytime someone from a minority was mentioned, there was some weird aside that the narrator needed to have.
The idea of challenging what the purpose of fiction is and the role of a main character is an intriguing prospect, and this, along with the few stories that stood out to me as genuine, are the reason I'm giving this a higher rating than 0 or 1. But there's no skill or point behind it, to me, other than to shock and disgust. Most of these stories had nothing to say. To make something realistic in its unappetizing circumstances means nothing when you're doing the same trick over and over again. "It's so bad here, what if there were something better? Well, there's not." Cool!
And unfortunately there's not even a single story that's about aliens.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Death, Grief, and Pregnancy
Minor: Animal death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, and Fire/Fire injury
Unbelievably terrible descriptions of fat people throughout for no reason. Additionally any time a main character meets a person who is not white or straight, they are very weird about it.tessa_specchio'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
grotesque in a good way
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Addiction, Eating disorder, Gore, Stalking, War, and Injury/Injury detail
weaverca'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
2.0
Graphic: Ableism, Drug use, and Racism
Moderate: Fatphobia and Misogyny
Minor: Self harm, Sexual content, and Murder
theminimalistbookclub's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Stalking
Moderate: Vomit