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vireoeo'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
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Terminal illness, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Outing, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Medical content, and Abortion
Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Incest, and Miscarriage
kappafrog'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
3.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Abortion, Pregnancy, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Hate crime, Incest, Rape, and Sexual violence
cawaza'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
4.5
Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Suicide
Minor: Incest
particledamage's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.75
Seeing good reviews for this books feels like I am on another planet.
This book is genuinely dreadful. It is both rushed and a slog. It is both biphobic and bisexual, racially inclusive and racist, about misogyny and sexist. It's preachy but only ever about like... basic decency things we all agree about. Finding out the author is straight and white clarified the book for me, truly felt like someone had just lovingly pried open my third eye so I could see the truth of the matter.
I honestly don't even think I can neatly summarize all of my complaints here. I sent myself emails with incoherent notes to myself about every new thing that set me off--her "soulmate" being emotionally abusive in patterns identically to her physically abusive spouse. The weird bullying about coming out as if was a CW show handling its first gay plotline and not about two grown women in the 50s and 60s. The weird contrived bit where whenever someone needed to get exposed for something, everyone would suddenly become letter-writers so that the letters could be found. The plot twist that was so insanely stupid I dropped the book.
The way that not only did the book pause to go on diatribes to know that terms like "whore" are bad but also spent an entire chapter knowing every single historical event that has happened, Evelyn was on the right side of it. She's complicated and obsessed with herself and money and glory but don't worry, she was right about Vietnam and treats her hired help well.
God, her character was repugnant but mostly in a dull way. Every character in this story was uninteresting, heinous, or both. Even Harry gets ruined in the end and he was the single enjoyable character the entire way through.
Just... what an awful experience. I'm speechless.
Read it just in a day though, so at least there's that.
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Classism
Minor: Eating disorder, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy
nehanaomi'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
4.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Abortion, Lesbophobia, and Outing
Minor: Incest and Miscarriage
kcmag1's review against another edition
3.0
So while I did enjoy the story, what kept me from really loving it was the writing. It felt too distinctly modern to be anything but a book from the 21st century. I’m not referring to the LGBTQ or other progressive themes in the book really; I found the actual dialogue to feel too current and lack the feel I would associate with Golden Age movie stars. That could be somewhat explained by the story being told in retrospective by an older Evelyn, but it doesn’t explain how even the newspaper excerpts felt like someone intentionally trying to write like a mid-century journalist. I also found the final few chapters to be a bit rushed.
Also related to the writing, I did not engage with the characters, though I found them interesting. I believe that is because there was no mystery to them. Every one was described so thoroughly - often from the moment that they were introduced - that nothing surprised me or made me want to know more about them. Even with Evelyn, clearly the most complex of them all, the author seemed to be working so hard to convey that she was complex that it made her still seem one-dimensional.
I’m inclined to think I would have like this book more if it was fully the biography that Monique wrote for her. It would have allowed for Evelyn to retain some mystery and allure as a smart and savvy young actress, only to have vulnerable and truly immoral side revealed slowly. It could contribute to this allure of Evelyn that readers are constantly told about, yet do not get to experience for ourselves. It also would have allowed for a little bit more of showing (not telling), which I think this book desperately needed. It still could have included Monique’s perspective, even though I found her character to be flat and predictable.
The best thing I can say about this book, and I mean it truly, is that it could be a really good movie.
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Incest and Abortion
inthemoonforcheese'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: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
danirc_'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Car accident, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Outing
Moderate: Alcoholism and Biphobia
Minor: Drug use, Incest, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
kcarney86'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
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Outing
Minor: Incest, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Terminal illness
skudiklier's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Incest, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Death of parent, and War