The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
red_headed_book_slut's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Rape, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Sexual assault
madalynedwards's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book contains many, many, many trigger warnings.
—
I’ll probably go back and add on to this review later but it’s 2 a.m. and I just finished this book and I am not okay.
Did I read this book because I knew it was supposedly heart wrenching and I wanted it to rip my heart out and smash it into thousands of tiny pieces? Yes. Was I prepared? No.
Okay, so I’m going to be honest, this was *almost* a DNF for me. I listened to it on audiobook at 3x speed and found myself losing interest. But I kept on trucking until 30% where I couldn’t decide if I wanted to DNF it or not. I rarely DNF a book, not that I think there’s anything wrong with DNFing, but I heard incredible reviews and wanted to keep going. I picked it back up a few days later and listened to the remaining 70% of this 800+ page novel without pressing pause. I was hooked - I couldn’t help but feel that if I put the book down, I would be abandoning the characters in their darkest times, and I so desperately wanted to see them overcome their demons and trauma (I did a little happy gasp when I got to the section titled “The Happy Days”, but rest assured friends, the happy days are not the final days.) The characters are beautifully flawed, well developed, and beautifully written. The strongest feeling I felt as I read was that of prolonged despair. Jude’s abusive past leads him to sabotaging himself, thinking he is not worthy of happiness or joy or love or, during some instances, life itself. And it’s heartbreaking. It’s absolutely gut wrenching.
Jude, it seems, was the unluckiest individual growing up. Jude made a comment in the later half of the book how he has been lucky all his life, but that is not true. The main criticism I have of the book is that I found myself thinking “surely one person cannot go through all of this”… it seems like Jude was in the wrong place at the wrong time every time. When he would reveal details about himself in little pieces, I would find myself thinking “this is the terrible trauma Jude endured that has resulted in his thoughts and motives…” but no, each passing chapter would peel back another layer of trauma he endured. I found myself wondering how one person could endure so many traumatic events, and during times wondered why the author was adding to these layers of trauma even after Jude had been through so much. So yeah, the main emotion, along with anger (for those who wronged Jude - and trust me, there are a lot) I felt while reading was despair. Pure and utter despair.
Graphic: Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Death, Medical trauma, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Suicide, Abandonment, Ableism, Grief, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Blood, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Vomit
cllaaiirreeee's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Grief, Blood, Body shaming, Mental illness, Rape, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt
shelbyeallen13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Rape, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Child abuse, Death, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Grief, and Emotional abuse
ireyes50's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Bullying, Car accident, Medical trauma, Self harm, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Medical content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
katenico's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Self harm, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
se80502's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
12 days and 816 pages later, and I'm a different person than I was before reading this book. However difficult, however hard it made me cry, it was the beauty within it that will forever be with me. I can categorically, without a shadow of a doubt, now proclaim it to be my favorite book I've ever read. The pain was worth it. My husband has always had a special bookshelf for his all-time favorite books. Books he wanted to stay with him no matter what. Until now, I've never had a book I couldn't part with. One I wrote so much in and underlined and poured myself into. This is finally that book for me.
It's difficult. It has so many complicated, deeply emotional, and difficult parts that I don't know if I can recommend it unless I know that person is emotionally prepared to take on its heaviness. There are so many trigger ⚠️ warnings for this book that could throw the wrong person into a dark place.
Thankfully, I kept going and "decided to stay."
"And so I try to be kind to everything I see, and in everything I see, I see him."
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Grief, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts
feral_andro's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
minor spoilers
I did not particularly like this book and don't understand why so many people do. The writing was not immersive for me -- instead of showing the reader who the characters are, all we get are endlessly long descriptions of the author telling us. I typically really enjoy dense writing, but it was not beautiful or original prose.
As for content, I still don't know how I feel about it. As someone who has experienced abuse, I just don't see Jude's internalization of it as realistic. Yes, there are elements of realism, but I think the degree to which he has internalized what he experienced is dramatized in the extreme and somehow takes away from the experiences of real abuse survivors .... though I have not yet been able to find the words to describe why I feel this.
(Possibly because in the end we're just supposed to accept that some people are too broken to be "saved" and are just destined to die. And as someone who has been suicidal before, I don't like this suggestion at all.)
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Self harm, Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Child abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Acephobia/Arophobia, Dysphoria, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship
oddgreyhound's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It has hills and valleys, and more of one than another, but it made me love the characters. It’s long, but i think it’s not too long. fitting.
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Car accident, Addiction, Child abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Dementia, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail
aulasw's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
If you want to experience a book that will hurt you as much as heal you; a book that will haunt you as much as fill your days with pleasant memories; a book that will make you cry as much as make you laugh, then this book is for you. It is not for the faint of heart: it is tough, and at times excruciatingly difficult, to keep reading, but it is worth it. Even in all the darkness this book has to show, with each bloody gash of the pages a cry for help, there are so many moments of light hidden there in these little lives, so bright next to all the dark around them.
This book will shock you and it will hurt you and it will heal you, the story itself so emblematic of the characters within and their lives.
If you do anything, please read this book.
Graphic: Rape, Medical trauma, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Trafficking, Self harm, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Suicide
Please read an in-depth review of this book and it's content warnings if you have issues reading about sexual, mental, physical, or drug abuse; self harm; or trafficking.