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bluejayreads's review against another edition
I picked this up for concept - a vast demographic imbalance has left 40 million more men that women, so households with multiple husbands are legal - and was actually really excited about it. I did enjoy the idea, and the setting of dystopian near-future China. But the story is told from the perspectives of the woman, the potential new husband, and the two existing husbands, and each one manages to make the narrator sympathetic and the rest of the characters horrible. It's difficult to form any kind of opinion when the characters are shown in such different lights depending on who's narrating. The potential new husband is a hopeless romantic and gets upset when real people don't act out his fantasy, the woman is deeply unhappy because her husbands and child are not exactly how she wants them to be so they must be wrong and broken, one husband is obviously autistic and hated by his wife and treated horribly by everyone for it (as well as being considered disgusting because he's fat), and the other husband didn't get enough narration in the first 24% for me to get a sense of him and the other characters all view him vastly differently. Everyone is unhappy, they all hate each other, and despite a good idea and setting I really do not want to spend any more time with these characters.
Graphic: Fatphobia and Sexual content
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, and Homophobia
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
ceedy's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, and Sexual content
embre's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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? No
4.75
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Murder
cheesepuppy's review
challenging
dark
emotional
4.0
What an interesting concept. I think this multiple husband home has potential. It takes a village, right?
This story was so well written that it felt real and believable. I felt bad for all the characters at different points in the story. Though, I was also mad at each of them. I loved this
This story was so well written that it felt real and believable. I felt bad for all the characters at different points in the story. Though, I was also mad at each of them. I loved this
Graphic: Ableism, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Death and Murder
summerb's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Sexual content
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