karly_ackley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Dementia and Miscarriage
Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Child abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Car accident, Vomit, Death, and Gun violence
whitneyrobson'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
4.0
Moderate: Cancer and Death
Minor: Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Cancer, and Death of parent
caseybottiger's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Alcoholism
horizonous'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
3.25
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Animal death, Car accident, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness
Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, and Violence
◦ Terminal illness = Dementiacmcryst's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, and Vomit
scoutvibes's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Miscarriage, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Bullying, Dementia, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Pregnancy, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Murder, Death, Grief, Suicide, Bullying, Alcoholism, Cancer, Violence, Dementia, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship
saschahd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Murder, and Death of parent
Minor: Car accident, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse
gabrielab's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I have so many mixed feelings about this book.
Right at the beginning, I was tempted to just stop reading it after the first few pages because of the writing style alone. The first chapter had so many short, weird sentences, a bunch of them starting with I; it really reminded me of the stories that kids usually write, the ones with "I went outside. I played in the garden. After, I called my mom.". It ruined the flow for me completely. Fortunately, the writing changed from part two on, otherwise I would've definitely given up on the book.
I was also not the biggest fan of how the book is structured and how the timeline is reversed. I can appreciate how challenging it must have been to write the story starting with day 15 and to try to balance the suspense, how much information the readers are given while maintaining a proper sequence of the events and a logical timeline. But I did find myself coming back again and again and rereading some of the previous chapters to make sense of the new information given and to try to understand how it's related to the parts we already know. Even now after I've finished the book, I feel the urge to just read it again in reverse and see if everything makes sense all together.
With regards to the characters, there's maybe just one I wanted to root for, the rest are pretty much all very unlikeable and flawed and so are the relationships between them. Looking through the notes I added while reading this, I've probably marked a dozen paragraphs detailing the interactions between the characters as 'Toxic!'. If there's any character development in this story, I didn't see it.
And maybe because of the fact that everyone was unlikeable and wrong, I finished this book without feeling anything in particular. I didn't feel happy, hopeful, sad, angry, though I felt like I should have felt all of those things. I didn't feel the relief of having everything tied together and explained, as per usual when a mystery is solved.
Now, with all the things I disliked out of the way, I must admit this book was a page turner and while I didn't feel any suspense or anxiety, it made me curious to see the story unfold. I thought the plot twists were good, I saw a few of them coming, but most were unexpected and I liked that. This is where my rating is mainly coming from; despite disliking the structure and the characters and being indifferent towards the conclusion, I managed to enjoy myself while reading the book.
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, Dementia, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcoholism
erinjulia'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? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death and Miscarriage
Moderate: Violence, Suicide, and Gun violence
Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Chronic illness