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aimiller's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was a fascinating and by turns gorgeous and humanly frustrating; the characters are so, sometimes painfully real, and Schulman manages to render every character in stark light. The titular Maggie Terry's struggle through not just her addiction but a whole new reality on the other side of rehab, a new world full of gentrification and loss of love as well as the troubling past of her career as a cop, really strips bare the consequences of refusing to talk to one another, on all sides--and while that in its more trope forms I know can be a turnoff for many readers, in this case it's so painfully realistic that it's not Plot Convenient but more just... how people are when they're traumatized and socialized in a world that so rarely allows for honest conversation. Definitely recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Drug abuse
Moderate: Incest and Sexual violence
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