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dorynickel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sometimes the characters seem not fully fleshed out, but then the two main characters' respective malleability and opaqueness are so intentional that I can't really take away points for this.
Above all, Waters' prose and storytelling are what makes this book stand out within the oft-derided "girly novel" genre. (Although it did take me a chapter or two to get used to the journal framing, with its varying syntaxes and mixed tenses.) I will admit that I didn't take this book seriously enough at first, and I was pleasantly surprised by the mastery with which Waters weaves the substance of the story and its candid prose together with the tropes inherent in its subject matter. Give yourself permission to take a sapphic Victorian Gothic mystery ghost novel seriously, and you're in for a real treat!
Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Classism
Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide
Minor: Homophobia, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
horizonous's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Torture, Blood, Abortion, and Suicide attempt
◦ Drug abuse = Laudanum◦ Mental illness = Anxiety, depression
sarah_i_jackson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Abortion
jonesmonster's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Grief
faesissa's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use