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krispiefries'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? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Violence, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Stalking, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Blood, Sexual assault, Death, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Confinement, Drug abuse, Murder, and Sexual content
te_ss_i'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: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Toxic friendship, Genocide, Infidelity, Torture, Alcohol, Drug use, Addiction, Stalking, Car accident, Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Abortion, Murder, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, and Violence
chuckielittle's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body shaming, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Stalking, and Torture
Moderate: Kidnapping, Addiction, Alcoholism, Police brutality, Mental illness, Infidelity, Self harm, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gaslighting
avidreader24's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Stalking, and Violence
Minor: Drug use
phantomgecko'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? Yes
2.0
Think of the whiniest, most foul-mouthed little incel you can, and that's this dude. Note how many times he refers to women as objects. How many times he reduces Beck to her sexual availability or genitals. How many times he misinterprets media to justify his actions. Also, lol at how judgmental he is about books. I think this is a more fun variation than being super judgmental about music or comics or video games.
Joe is seven layers of delusional, from thinking Beck is obsessed with him to awaiting the collapse of the internet so he can lord it over with his typewriters to thinking he ever helped anyone. However, some of what I thought he was making up at the beginning turned out to be close to the truth. Like how he says that Beck loves attention and is an exhibitionist. Still, I'd categorize him as an unreliable narrator.
Beck isn't a great person either. She has real issues and a way annoying personality. Joe's observation that she wants to be a writer more than she wants to write is spot on. Nevertheless, a victim is a victim whether or not they are "innocent" or you personally dislike them.
One of the book club questions at the end asked something along the lines of, "did you find yourself wishing Joe would be punished for his crimes or did you want him to get away with it?" And like... ?????????? If you found yourself sympathetic to Joe's self-imposed, imaginary, selfish plight, maybe you need help too?
I honestly cannot adequately express how despicable the main character is. I understand that that is the point. I feel dirty for reading this book, tbh, and I'm not continuing the series. Joe is too accurately written, and that's too depressing for me.
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content
Moderate: Infidelity, Kidnapping, Car accident, Classism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Bullying, Confinement, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness
theskyboi's review against another edition
Graphic: Murder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Blood, Infidelity, Child abuse, Confinement, and Gaslighting
snowhite197's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
marisabenn'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
5.0
This is by far the creepiest book I have ever read. Being inside of Joe's head is amazing and disturbing. You get to experience how screwed up he is, but from his perspective it's everyone else that's messed up.
Beck was just awful. I hated her and her friends so much. I never really felt sad when they died, but I was never rooting for them to be killed. Joe is definitely the bad guy here, no gray areas at all.
I probably won't watch the show, and I don't think I'll continue with the series either. This was a good standalone and I like the way it ended.
Graphic: Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Mental illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, and Murder
Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Drug use
thee_eclectic_eccentric's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Stalking, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Kidnapping, Violence, Drug use, Murder, and Gaslighting
eline1701's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I finished season 4 part 1 and sort of wanted more (why?) and ended up reading this. It feels odd to say I enjoyed it but I did??? There's a certain humour in reading Joe's narration, the way he judges people, his hypocrisy and the way he justifies his actions. It's completely ridiculous. He's also horribly crass and sexist - moreso than in the show, which I thought was interesting. Beck also felt a lot meaner and less involved in the book, which I thought was cool. Why not? She's allowed to kind of suck. She still doesn't deserve any of this shit.
I really "liked" the way he addresses Beck for the entirety of the novel, it felt original. We never really get a grasp on her, with Joe's unreliable narration, but I thought that was used in a way that was interesting. He'd skip certain things completely because he didn't deem them worth mentioning (duh, of course he'd collected creepy stuff belonging to Beck) and they'd only come up later and they'd always be a bit of a slap in the face. So yeah, I had a... a good time?... reading this. Sort of like watching the show. Repulsive, but at least all parties agree on that? Let's see if I pick up book two...
Graphic: Stalking, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
Moderate: Self harm, Sexism, Homophobia, and Body shaming
Minor: Drug abuse, Death of parent, Addiction, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Abandonment