Reviews with content warning for Racism - Parachutes

As another reviewer has said (amyv), this feels like a first draft. I was really interested in the parachute concept as I'd never heard of it, but the book as a whole was badly written in my opinion.
The chapters are disjointed and the relationships between the characters don't make sense or follow on - there's not enough exploration of the two "host sisters'" attitudes towards each other for their actions to make sense.
The characters have basically the same narrative voice and you never know whether from perspective switch to perspective switch you're going to get the same time period from another perspective, or skip forward in time a week.
The family relationships were unexplored, and although Claire talks about her popular rich friends back at home, I don't think she mentions any of them by name.
The reason I've given this two stars is that the sexual assault storylines were dealt with well. That was sadly the first point I felt anything for the characters though. This was obviously a really important story for the author but I wish it had been more polished - it could've been much better and much more impactful.

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mayalehmann's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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marianaribeiro's review against another edition

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reflective sad 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? No

2.5

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theoceanrose's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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minhha_reads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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typedtruths's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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cosmicwillow's review against another edition

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emotional 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

4.0

This was a really important, powerful story. I really enjoyed it, however, it definitely started slow and took too much, unnecessary time establishing the setting and the way the characters interact before getting into the main subject matter at the core of the story. When it got to that content, I felt it moved too fast, so a bit of a pacing issue in there, too.

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