cinnaminskies's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Gun violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death of parent, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Trafficking
vaguely_pink'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
3.0
There were also numerous times where I felt like we were gearing up for an ending only to check the audiobook and realize that somehow I still had 13 hours left. As I got to the end, I started to have my usual audiobook thoughts of “maybe I’d like this more if I read with my eyes,” especially with the discussions about the importance of art to the human experience. But I’m not sure I would’ve had the endurance for this book in print. And when it does finally end, it feels very
Spoiler
BorisGraphic: Child abuse, Addiction, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, and Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Infidelity, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Animal cruelty, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Homophobia, Murder, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Vomit, and Sexual violence
Terrorism, bombing, organized crimejelliestars's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Drug abuse, Grief, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Addiction, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Cursing, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Infidelity, Murder, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Racism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness
Minor: Animal death, Classism, Deportation, Torture, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual content, and Transphobia
bubblebees'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Drug use, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Homophobia
booksandboba's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
When I first read it, I loved it, loved the writing style and character development (it was my first or one of my first encounters with writing like this), really related to descriptions of anxiety and depression, considered it my favorite book. Read it a second time and started forming doubts, particularly with noticing issues of classism and racism. Read it a third time, this time annotating heavily for themes present throughout the book (question of fate vs free will, good vs bad and moral responsibility, depression and grief vs hope, art and its beauty and importance, friendship and love, impermanence vs permanence, time, life and death) and enjoyed doing that, but in doing so realized that the book really could have been edited better. I found the ending to be sloppy and not satisfying. And the way that blatant racism is used in the book (equating East Asian and especially Chinese culture and objects with cheapness) is just appalling.
And apparently it took 10 years or more to write this book, which either means that those choices were deliberate and well-thought out, choosing to only have people of color represented in minor roles mostly as working class serving the white upper class, choosing to use racist notions to make character points, or she somehow in all that time failed to consider these choices — why she might be making them, what they mean, what sort of impact they would have — despite the clear time and attention to detail given to making this book.
Spoiler
Maybe you can claim that Theo, as a character, is racist, and that it just adds to the long list of character flaws and why we can’t trust him as a reliable narrator etc., but we already have so many examples so why would this be necessary? The racism does not directly connect to a point that needs to made either for plot or theme as far as I can see, and even if Theo as a character is just racist, that still doesn’t explain why the only people of color we encounter are in working class positions, save maybe the two social workers. (And he can’t even remember the Korean woman’s name, and just has to mention that her breath smells like garlic?)Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Blood, Death of parent, Mental illness, Murder, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gun violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Car accident, Classism, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Homophobia
Minor: Pregnancy
marleywrites's review against another edition
Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Death of parent, Grief, and Drug use
Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Homophobia, Child death, and Islamophobia
Minor: Sexual content
finleigh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Child abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Homophobia and Suicide attempt
Minor: Racism
houseratss's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Homophobia and Racial slurs
capucapulet's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Drug use, Grief, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts
emmawoodhouse's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Drug abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, Grief, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Murder and Violence
Minor: Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Trafficking, and Vomit