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herlvr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Blood, Car accident, Abortion, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
crowyhead's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Vomit, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Child death, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Cannibalism, Car accident, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Minor: Genocide, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Classism
ramblepatch's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Colonisation
Minor: Car accident
alexisgarcia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
nrogers_1030's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Car accident and Death of parent
Minor: Child death, Racism, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
maryellen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Abortion
nugsforbugs'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
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
eed8's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abortion, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
dustghosts's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
+ great narration from the audiobook reader
+ a fantastic writing style that meanders through the slow moments well, evocative and high-tension at more horrific/scary scenes, overall I would read more from this author
+ some truly scary visuals / moments that felt almost made for the screen
+ at least nearer the beginning, a really well-balanced homage to a place with a complicated history, past and present
+ excellent depiction of a toxic, all-consuming relationship, and a complicated and nuanced depiction of what grief for that might look like
o not a particularly likeable cast, and the other three characters in the friend group were more vividly and interestingly depicted than our narrator, Erin. a few characters call her “empty,” though, and I think this blankness might have been purposeful
- this book is trying to handle a lot of difficult topics (grief, history and how to reckon with it, toxic relationships and friendships, addiction, the creation of “ghost stories,” and some more minor ones). sometimes it does this really well, but more often feels muddled and the pace suffers for it. not that a book can’t focus on multiple themes, but I think that leaning stronger into one or two could have helped the book to feel more focused and purposeful. (For example: we spend a lot of time talking about facing history and giving it its due, but that seems to fall by the wayside the further we get into the book, and feels unsatisfying to be reminded of again at the end when we haven’t looked dead on at any of it in some time.)
- I’m not sure whether this is a helpful or harmful depiction of addiction, and I don’t really have the tools to analyze that— will have to learn and listen more to do so properly. lots of reviewers say this does a good job of portraying the “horrors of addiction,” the destructive patterns and loss of self that can come with. to me, on a surface level, this feels often very sensationalized and demonizing of drug users— not unlike those books we would have been obsessed with in middle school. having the narrator be an addict herself, and the natural marriage of genre to subject, helps some, but I have a major issue reconciling the moralizing of the epilogue with
- as a sucker for repetition, I still felt that this book leaned a bit too heavily on it at times, and it just felt like when you start nodding along to someone as they’re speaking to you just to see them through
anyway. it was an interesting and mostly-enjoyable read, but felt like it went off the rails at some point and I’m not sure that it ever made it all the way back on
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Child death, Gore, Blood, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail
abanks'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
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: Cursing, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting
Minor: Child death, Excrement, Abortion, and Alcohol