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tangsprite's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Terminal illness, and Grief
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol
brookebatesratesbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Grief and Abandonment
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Drug use
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Abortion
alex_bousquet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
spellbindingtomes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Alcoholism and Abandonment
Minor: Animal death and Drug use
tetrootz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Abortion, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic
gpfot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic
janicee1223's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Grief
mxyfrzn'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
4.5
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Abortion, and Pandemic/Epidemic
emilywemily6's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic
okiecozyreader's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
“She missed the illusion of grass and sky kissing at the end of the world.
She missed standing amid a rustling chorus of wind-waving grasses, the four horsemen of the tallgrass prairie - little bluestem, big bluestem, Indian grass, and switchgrass. She missed May fields dotted with black-eyed Susans, Indian blanket, and coreopsis. She missed bursts of red clay topsoil along dirt roads. She missed the smell emanating from meat smokers, the way the grocery store was always empty on Sunday mornings, good thirty-dollar haircuts, and scissor-tailed flycatchers, suspended like supermen in hot, dry air. She missed the evenings most of all: the grapefruit sun hovering above the prairie, dismissing the day with unpredictable strokes of cantaloupe, fuchsia, and violet.” P35
Wren and Lewis celebrate their first year of marriage, and soon thereafter, he realizes something is wrong with his body, and finds out he is mutating into a great white shark. His loving wife Wren takes care of him as his body and mind transform, and he loses the ability to direct the school play, and acting is one of his great loves. But their love for each other is incredibly beautiful.
“When Lewis finally came to bed, he took sleeping Wren's hand in his and closed his eyes, seeing if he could sense her electrical field.
"What... What are you doing?" she asked groggily.
"Just seeing what it's like to love you when I can't see you." P70
In part 2, we go back to Wren’s childhood and learn about her mother Angela. It was a totally different story, but while reading the first part, I wondered about her mother, and appreciated the backstory, even though it was difficult in many ways.
In part 3 we go back to Lewis in current day and then to Wren. I loved the mother and daughter story and how the author writes in the Acknowledgments, “When I write of a mother's love, I write not from the experience of being one myself but from being a daughter who has been so, so lucky to be loved by parents like you.” Throughout the book, I felt that love.
“Wren no longer sees life as a long, linear ladder with a beginning, middle, and end.
Instead, she considers how life is like a spiraling trail up a mountain. Each circling lap represents a learning cycle, the same lesson at a slightly higher elevation. Wren realizes she likes to rest as much as she likes to climb. She begins to enjoy the view.” P 397
“Angela had been grieving Marcos almost as long as she'd known him, and finally, like a rainbow against a bruise-hued cloud, she saw the real Marcos--not as an idea, dream, hope, or possibility - but as he really was,
Marcos drew an outline of a person who was generous, wise, and kind. and Angela's longing animated his image with life and color. This two-dimensional Marcos, the one she imagined, was never real.” P274
“And then Lewis caved, as usual, to the chatter of resistance, the recita-ton of his very important responsibilities, the weighty things that would require all his life force, attention, and creative energy, why he should not do the thing that was, deep down, most important to him.” P35
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Blood, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
Minor: Abortion and Pandemic/Epidemic