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atamano's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Car accident, and Classism
rivercat0338's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Torture, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Colonisation and Classism
beaniebabyidiot's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Vomit
literarybitch's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
If you follow this author on social media, you might know that he is obsessed with apples. This guy knows so much about rare heirloom (rareloom?) apple varietals and he's very passionate about them, so when I heard that he was working on a book centered on that knowledge, I got hyped about this months-to-years in advance. Not to project onto the author, but I think he was hyped too. This is written with a vaguely anticipatory air, like this book is supposed to be his... masterpiece? Passion project? Love letter to his special interest?
For that reason, I wanted to enjoy this more. I wanted to suck it down greedily in a weekend, or else savor it bite by bite, but in reality it just took me a really long time to struggle through it. It's... challenging to read. Don't get me wrong, I loved all the apple lore! It was just hard for me to get into, and it's for sure not the book's fault. There were spooky vibes, a spooky guy with a spooky smile, class traitorship, an emotionally abusive lesbian marriage, and, best of all, a sex-positive portrayal of ethical nonmonogamy & kink! I appreciate all of that. I just felt removed from it for reasons I can't pin down. Maybe I need to take a break from books.
This is written with a vaguely anticipatory air, like this book is supposed to be his
masterpiece
passion project.
Overall, I don't think I can give this a fair number. I fear a score based on my net-enjoyment of the reading experience will undervalue the things it has going for it, and there's really nothing wrong with it either. But it would also be disingenuous to overrate a book just because I think I should have liked it more.
?/10
#WhatsKenyaReading
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation
sex-positive kink mention & ethical nonmonogamy