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katherine_alexis's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer and Homophobia
Moderate: Child death and Infidelity
Minor: Addiction and Sexual violence
teresareads's review
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- 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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Medical content, Dementia, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Minor: Drug use and War
jwells's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
I can see why some people didn't like this book, but I found it fascinating how one choice, relatively early in a person's life, completely changed everything that followed. I really enjoyed most of the book, but found the ending quite annoying. Unfortunately it's hard to criticize an ending without spoilers...
1. Patricia's idea that she has to make a choice between the two lives seems to come from nowhere. Why should we believe that her choice would have the power to change the rest of the world? How does she choose, just pick one world inside her head?
2. I also disliked the last sentence:
"She wouldn't have been the person her life had made her if she could have made any other answer."
For me this really highlighted a weakness of the book that hadn't otherwise occurred to me. Patricia's two lives should have made her into two different people. She shouldn't have been able to end up exactly the same, at the end of two such different lives. There should be no single "person her life had made her" since there's on single life she had. Yet, apparently, the two lives have re-converged now, in "Patricia."
I suppose that's what the dementia is for, to blur her personality traits so that Pat and Trish end up being the same person in old age. In that case, is she still "the person her life made her," if she's forgotten that much?
3. In any case, the end of the book explicitly sets up her choice as one between selfishness (happiness with Bee at the expense of the rest of the world) versus self-sacrifice (buying world peace at the expense of her own misery with Mark), so the oh-so-mysterious ending just seemed like a Discussion Question for Book Clubs (TM). "Will she Do the Right Thing?" and that's just irritating.
2. I also disliked the last sentence:
"She wouldn't have been the person her life had made her if she could have made any other answer."
For me this really highlighted a weakness of the book that hadn't otherwise occurred to me. Patricia's two lives should have made her into two different people. She shouldn't have been able to end up exactly the same, at the end of two such different lives. There should be no single "person her life had made her" since there's on single life she had. Yet, apparently, the two lives have re-converged now, in "Patricia."
I suppose that's what the dementia is for, to blur her personality traits so that Pat and Trish end up being the same person in old age. In that case, is she still "the person her life made her," if she's forgotten that much?
3. In any case, the end of the book explicitly sets up her choice as one between selfishness (happiness with Bee at the expense of the rest of the world) versus self-sacrifice (buying world peace at the expense of her own misery with Mark), so the oh-so-mysterious ending just seemed like a Discussion Question for Book Clubs (TM). "Will she Do the Right Thing?" and that's just irritating.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Dementia, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail