Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

31 reviews

dxnatelli's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5


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lifeisaeisha's review

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book if hard to rate because it does some things very well, while failing in other areas.

The good: 
  • it's very hard to talk about
    rape and sexual assault, especially as a survivor. So I definitely give the  author her props for approaching both that and school shootings,
    and depicting them both realistically. 
  • The story was incredibly engaging. Although the characters were largely unlikable and at times insufferable, the plot had me locked in and I couldn't wait to get to the bottom of Ani's story and understand why she turned out the way that she did. 
  • I think it was important to show characters like Ani's mother and
    the planned parenthood nurse
    . Women who perpetuate patriarchy by dismissing, downplaying, and outright ignoring obvious abuse.

The bad: 
  • Right out the gate we are introduced to Ani's disordered eating, but at no point is it acknowledged as such, or as a thing for her to work on. Both times her best friend bright it up, she dismissed her and moved on. 
  • The plot with
    the teacher
    was suuuuper unnecessary, and it was never acknowledged how creepy and inappropriate it was.
  • (A personal gripe, not so much a fault of the author.) I would have liked to see more of how
    the documentary turned out and the fallout for Dean
    . I understand that Ani's closure came from the face to face acknowledgement of his crimes against her, but it would have been nice to see him finally lose.

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lindseyratterree's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • 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

3.5


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peggy_racham's review

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5.0

I like an unlikable narrator. Especialy if I can understand how they got like that. Taking back control narrative is my niche thrope.

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have to admit this book surprised me more than once. I thought it was going in a certain direction that I was sure was going to be banal. Then it pivoted and pivoted again and pivoted again. The only thing banal was the ending, but I didn’t mind that because it felt like it needed to be. After all the trauma and turmoil in her life, Ani deserved banal.

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tiffanysbookgems's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • 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

4.25


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eevee_saur137's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A hard to read book about a broken person. Knoll's style of writing very clearly shows how the domino effect of Tiffani's traumas destroyed her as a person and though you can't say you like her decisions or even her as a person, you understand exactly why she is the way she is.

I've seen a lot of reviews mentioning Gone Girl. I missed the marketing for this book so I might be late but let me say it's nothing like that book. To be clear, Gone Girl is brilliant, but this is not that kind of story. Not to spoil too much, but the biggest distinctions for me are 1) Gone Girl is about revenge and this story is about the beginnings of healing and 2) Amy acts, while Tiffani is acted upon.

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violetbentbackwards1036's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • 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

5.0


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vtlism's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved this writing, the voice needs to be bottled and the main character development was perfection, nothing 8 thought about her at the beginning was true by the end. I noticed slice/line imagery throughout but would love to know the author's intent with that. 

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lovetoread18's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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