Scan barcode
ryannreidreads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I struggled with this book until halfway through. It’s a story of community and identity and is just COMPLICATED. 5 stars because it hit me at just the right time.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Police brutality
hello_lovely13's review
emotional
reflective
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
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Homophobia
Minor: Fatphobia, Transphobia, and Police brutality
shaun_dh's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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
3.0
I all-caps HATED Sneha until about halfway through. I almost DNFed this in multiple occasions. She’s fatphobic, hates enbies (my spouse is nonbinary so this was particularly painful for me to read), has a weird white girl fetish, and wants to degrade, humiliate, and inflict pain upon sexual partners (not a kink that is palatable for me). So go into this book knowing that’s how she starts, but she ends up less of a shithead with age (don’t we all?)
This is the perfect example of why I don’t read books with characters in their 20s—I have zero interest in revisiting that time in my life
This was just fine for me. The cultural nuances are also not relatable to me (Sneha is Indian, I am not) to me so maybe that would have helped my have more empathy for Sneha in the beginning
Tig, Sneha’s bestie, is the best part of this book. I Stan a fellow biracial Black queen. I want a book all about Tig, please and thank you
This is the perfect example of why I don’t read books with characters in their 20s—I have zero interest in revisiting that time in my life
This was just fine for me. The cultural nuances are also not relatable to me (Sneha is Indian, I am not) to me so maybe that would have helped my have more empathy for Sneha in the beginning
Tig, Sneha’s bestie, is the best part of this book. I Stan a fellow biracial Black queen. I want a book all about Tig, please and thank you
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Transphobia, Police brutality, Outing, Alcohol, and Deportation
Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Cursing, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Classism
charlie_woodchipper's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Deportation
Minor: Drug abuse, Homophobia, Transphobia, Gaslighting, and Classism
archiveofrasa's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
started this because I loved the voice, stayed because of the outstanding character work. Sneha is such an interesting and well realised character, as are all the other characters, Tig, Thom, Marina, Amit. even the more minor characters add a lot of realistic depth to what the book is trying to explore.
I didn't realise until I was days deep into my annotating reread that the story is exactly what Sneha says it is in the beginning:
I didn't realise until I was days deep into my annotating reread that the story is exactly what Sneha says it is in the beginning:
This is not a story about work or precarity. I am trying, late in the evening, to say something about love, which for many of us is not separable from the other shit.
—A1
when you read said story and the words and symbolism click into place, it's deeply satisfying. the book isn't trying to explore how Sneha directly navigates the capitalistic society of 2013-beyond, that aspect simply falls back as a foundation, as the unmovable constant in her life that continues to push her down. ATCBD is about Sneha as a person, her issues with intimacy, community, family, identity. the way Mathews going about exploring these facets intertwined with work life, as adult life must endure these days, was super compelling and so new.
while Sneha was absolutely a pain in the ass, all we gathered from her before she hurts others makes me want to know how things end for her, what other choices she makes and why she makes them. I've stopped looking for likeable main characters and instead found myself gravitating towards those who do fuck up, have problematic issues as to why they fuck up, those who have to learn things the hard way, especially if those people are queer people of colour. these stories awaken a sense of realism I definitely needed and even if it has only subtly made its way into the wrinkles of my brain, it'll stay with me for a long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Child abuse and Drug abuse
Minor: Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Transphobia, and Police brutality
team_worm's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
5.0
My best novel of the year so far. I read it in one breath, stoping only to savor the sentences which cut deepest. The prose sparkles like broken glass! All feelings felt by the characters in this one - joy, sadness, outrage, triumph, heartbreak, anxiety, panic, loneliness, hope — you’ll feel them too. You will also feel exasperation as they are, some of them at least, very flawed. Some of Sneha’s and Thom’s opinions are not my own, but I thought they evolved throughout the book in satisfying ways. If anything, more than people usually do irl. I cared so much about the characters. Would particularly recommend for fans of the great believers and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. A true millennial novel of queer friendship, trauma, and late capitalism.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault
Minor: Transphobia
starbeans's review against another edition
cw: child abuse, sexual abuse, heavy drug use, alcoholism, transphobia
I… can't really rate this.
Sneha is a first-generation Indian American woman whose parents have gone back to India, leaving her alone in a foreign country at just 17 years of age. Sneha massively struggles — with her existence as an immigrant, with her queerness, and, honestly, with her gender.
I liked how it handled a lot of its very complex themes. There's a huge amount of friendship, of warmth, of how differently topics surrounding mental illness are still handled throughout the world. Of how differently trauma can resurface in different people, or in the same person at different times. The communist themes spoke to me, but what unfortunately did not, was the transphobia. It got better the longer the book went on, but there was definitely some unresolved gender-questioning going on in Sneha that felt like it was just brushed aside, at least for me.
Still, after having my doubts about this for the first third, I'd recommend reading this!
I… can't really rate this.
Sneha is a first-generation Indian American woman whose parents have gone back to India, leaving her alone in a foreign country at just 17 years of age. Sneha massively struggles — with her existence as an immigrant, with her queerness, and, honestly, with her gender.
I liked how it handled a lot of its very complex themes. There's a huge amount of friendship, of warmth, of how differently topics surrounding mental illness are still handled throughout the world. Of how differently trauma can resurface in different people, or in the same person at different times. The communist themes spoke to me, but what unfortunately did not, was the transphobia. It got better the longer the book went on, but there was definitely some unresolved gender-questioning going on in Sneha that felt like it was just brushed aside, at least for me.
Still, after having my doubts about this for the first third, I'd recommend reading this!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, and Transphobia
sammyofthevalley's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This wasn’t my type of book - I don’t usually read sad endings or books which are completely focused on angst. However, I also feel justified in disliking it, as the main character never develops. My FAVORITE part of books is character development, but the only upward motion we see in S is because of a time skip when the development has happened without the reader. I would have liked a lot more payoff for suffering through her situation. But that’s how life is
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Classism, and Deportation
tonionnalee's review against another edition
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Transphobia
k_strau's review against another edition
I gave this two tries in hopes of it being something that it isn't. Turns out it's using non-binary transphobia as an arbitrary plot point with seemingly no rhyme or reason, I was hoping it would end up being for some character development or actually have a purpose but it doesn't look like it. Did the only reasonable thing an dnf-ed it. We really don't need transphobia in the fictional world in addition to the actual shit show we are already living in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia
If you are trans or a trans ally - don't bother.