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siobhanward's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
One of the best parts of reading through the NYT notable books lists is discovering new authors. I've not come across Cosby before but both books I've read of his I've enjoyed. I've read a lot of thrillers and my biggest critique is that at a certain point they all start to feel the same. Cosby's books feel fresh and new in a lot of ways and while I could definitely see things coming, it was really cool to see how Cosby built up to things and managed to surprise me.
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Infidelity, Racism, and Transphobia
Minor: Racial slurs
keeparas's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
lapuce1006's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
momlovesbooks17's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Kidnapping
Minor: Deadnaming and Infidelity
gknott's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Deadnaming, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Excrement, and Fire/Fire injury
ktdakotareads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Deadnaming, Infidelity, Transphobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
jill24's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Transphobia
Moderate: Torture, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Infidelity and Gaslighting
kccool12255's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Some of my PERSONAL favorite lines from this book (*cue eye rolls and constant head banging*):
"His chest was tighter than a virgin's p***y."
"Wound up tighter than a godd***ed duck's a**."
"I'm gonna tear off your d**k and make you eat it."
That's not even HALF of the stupid analogies that this book is FILLED TO THE BRIM with. It was FULL of them in the beginning, and then there would be a lull for a few pages where you would be like, "Oh, okay, these analogies are decent. Maybe we're done with-" AND THEN IT WOULD SMACK YOU IN THE FACE. That was the process of reading this book, which by the way, took 11 DAYS, which is WAY too long to spend on a book that sucks as much as this one. Although one of my FAVORITE things from this book (*mocking voice*) is just how even though both of the main characters are grieving their sons' deaths, they show absolutely NO EMPATHY for anyone else.
"Mya wailed. He [Ike] flinched when she spoke. It was like hearing a rabbit scream in a trap."
"Buddy Lee had felt a firmer grip from his grandmother on her deathbed."
This book reads like an edgy 14-year-old's fanfiction on Wattpad. Maybe it's because of all the cursing, or just the writing in general, but it's horrible. I mean, there were SOME good lines, but the quality of the bad lines is just too horrendous for the book to be considered good.
"Just because I don't wanna talk about it doesn't mean I want to forget about it. It reminds me of why I don't ever wanna go back."
"You let an animal know you're afraid of it and it loses all respect for you. Men might walk on two legs but they were the most vicious animals of all."
"When the people you love are gone, it's the things they've touched that keep them alive in your mind. They become anchors that help you keep their memory from drifting away."
"He knew what a killer looked like. He saw one in the mirror every day."
"There was no turning back. There was no path that led anywhere down a long road as dark as your first night in hell and paved all along the way with bad intentions."
But the problem with this is that you have lines like that sprinkled every few pages, and you start to think, "Maybe this book will start to get better," and then NOPE, we get lines like these:
"You always felt like you were on the edge of some imaginary precipice...if you were an ex-con, it felt like the precipice was covered in bacon grease."
"The powerlifter had sweat stains spreading down from his armpits that vaguely resembled maps of England and Ireland respectively."
Both of those above quotes came from THE FIRST PAGE. THE TONE SETTER FOR THE ENTIRE BOOK. THIS BOOK ISN'T EVEN A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, WHICH SHOULD'VE BEEN A RED FLAG FROM THE GET-GO.
I'm assuming that these FEW good lines, the moderately good character development, and the way this novel deals heavily with grief, outweighed all of the stupid things for people, because this is the only reason I can give for this book having an average FOUR STARS. FOUR. STARS. IT'S NOT OKAY. I saw a review that said "If you don't like metaphors or similes, this book isn't for you," but that's not true, either, because there was a SPRINKLING of good analogies throughout, it just was overshadowed by all of the STUPID ones ONE PAGE LATER. It's not that we don't like analogies, it's that the author uses STUPID ones.
In conclusion, because there's a life lesson to be learned here, never buy a book that you saw a girl reading on a plane, because she might be a freak (or not, I don't know her). To the girl who I saw reading this book on that plane, I'm so sorry you had to suffer through this. I could blame you for my suffering, but I won't because I did this to myself. You are not to blame.
0 stars. I need to be recompensed for this. I should get an award for getting through this book, because I literally wanted to pluck out my eyeballs the entire time.
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Abandonment
alicelalicon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Classism
taylor13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol