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petermedeiros1988's review against another edition
dark
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
A kind of modern, social media, yuppie noir...And I do mean that in a good way, though your mileage may vary. It's a noir in the sense that we're not dealing with good people here. But the trick is that Burton makes us care for these characters as well. The book posits that the world--especially the art world, especially New York, especially the circles of the bored rich--are infinitely vapid, beautiful without heft. Then in the same breath she'll tell you, wait, no, that's not right, these people have real heart and real hurt...but it's never quite enough to overcome that first impression, I don't think. The central character is a bit of a cipher the whole time, subsumed by Livinia... though again, that's partly on purpose? It still gets a recommend for me if you are open a fan of, say, Double Indemnity...that is, if you can enjoy a well-written story where you're rooting for no one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicide