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jwatson9030'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, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
killmoore_'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
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
keats1787'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
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Transphobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Stalking, and Outing
searobin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
On one hand, I loved it in a guilty-pleasure kinda way and couldn't put it down. On the other hand, a lot of the actual plot was rather weak, the twists were obvious a mile out, the similes were excessive, gross, and/or weird (e.g., "his chest was as tight as virgin pussy"), and the characters were two-dimensional at best. It was just really, really, really violent. I have aphantasia, so gore in books doesn't bother me in the same way as in movies/tv shows, but some of the descriptions were just unnecessary - like, way too much detail about someone's guts spilling out like taffy that had had merlot spilled on it or something, for example.
I am queer, but don't have a lot of queerphobic trauma, so that aspect of things wasn't triggering for me, just terribly sad and hard to read, but I can see how it would be really terrible for some.
Idk, it was a weird read. I was so hyped when I finished it; it felt like I had whiplash from the whole thing. However, the more it settles and the more time I have to process it, the more I realise that I think it was more an adrenaline high than a good book.
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Excrement, and Fire/Fire injury
cadence99's review
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
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
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
hunterp's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Murder