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arieslofi's reviews
102 reviews
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Eating disorder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism and Child abuse
Minor: Abandonment
2.0
i did enjoy some of it, it had good observations here and there: "Once upon a time everyone knew what rape was; it was the stealing of a woman from the man or men who owned her", "If a man punches you in the eye, you are not expected to have pleaded with him not to for the crime to be accepted as an assault. If you are sitting at your cash register and someone demands the cash in it, you will not be accused of consent if you simply hand it over.", and "Rape is not a sex crime, but a hate crime." specifically.
however, this particular part made me extremely uncomfortable and upset with it: "If the women who complained in 2002 and 2003 had stuck to their guns these two women might still be alive."
how poor of a feminist you have to be to imply it is their fault that two women were killed. only to talk about how men hate women so much after. they did not kill them by retracting their statement, the killer did by taking their lives. shameful shit.
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual assault
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
there were parts i enjoyed and overall it is a story that should be told, but it is just not the book for me, ya hater and all.
also, as a the book thief lover, this book is nothing like it in any way, shape or form apart from the fact it takes place in the middle of a genocide. you expect me to believe that this ya written juvenile shit is even comparable to one of the most beautiful pieces of written fiction? fuck off.
Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Injury/Injury detail
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.0
that being said: this book is utter shit.
for starters, it's got a larger ensemble than it can possibly handle. you're writing a book for tweens, not the next agatha christie novel! when we got to the twist, i genuinely couldn't care because, with such a big cast, these two characters are virtually meaningless. they hold nothing for me.
speaking of, the characters are all so two dimensional it's not even funny. the amount of internalized misogyny coming from our main character is utterly insane, especially considering this is a book for TEENS(!!!) and came out in 2017. were we not better then? did we genuinely think a good female character shits on others for no reason other than jealousy and insecurity? you guys talk shit about twilight and bella being a "mary sue" but at least she was a girl respecter! the ensemble in general just sucks, it's spread too thin and the silly nicknames for the two brothers just made me sigh. i know this isn't for adults, but it truly did not feel endearing, just childish.
the two love interests are the classic brooding and sarcastic older guy and the sweet and protective same aged friend, which is just boring. nothing about them seemed interesting to me, and their chemistry with sophie was nonexistent. the forced moments of jealous banter were also just cringeworthy, nothing new or even plausible.
the plot itself is... something. it starts as a completely nonthreatening book, then i guess they told the author it wasn't going to sell well, so she had to throw in thriller elements that are boring and uninteresting, and then a thriller ending that is boring and uninteresting.
this also might be because of the translation, but the writing itself was pure garbage. why are there constant cliffhanger endings to the chapters? this isn't goosebumps. why is there constant lampshading that convinces me the author shoehorned the thriller aspects after her editor told her to? why is some of the dialogue so forced and unrealistic? who the fuck is pierre? literally who is that? i never went back to check because that's not my fucking job! it's your job to make me remember a character if you're going to make him be in the twist ending! which was ass, by the way. you can tell it's coming from miles away, and i'm not even a big thriller/mystery reader anymore.
tl;dr: too big of an ensemble, characters that are too shallow, writing that is too juvenile and borderline childish, cringeworthy dialogue and interactions. simply put, a waste of a whole month and space in my phone!
but it wasn't red white and royal blue, so it gets a pass for that. it could be worse!
Graphic: Misogyny and Kidnapping
Moderate: Incest
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Hate crime, and Vomit
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
the ending isn't my exact favorite, but i did enjoy a lot of it and the glimpse into victoire's past.
anyway griffin PLEAAAAAASE return my fucking calls
Graphic: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Physical abuse, Slavery, Medical content, War, and Injury/Injury detail
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
i really enjoyed a lot of the translation, it felt super breezy and fluid (a lot of japanese translations feel extremely stilted and awkward), but i think it should have cut out on the usage of oshi? it didn't bother me a lot, but just enough to be distracting, given how much the word is used (151 times, no joke).
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Vomit
Did not finish book. Stopped at 29%.
it pissed me off that alex didn't know he was bisexual. how do you write 28% of your book in the way you do, with the flirting and etc, and then suddenly give us three whole pages about how he never knew because he was a son of DEMOCRATS so he thought that was normal and he never questioned it, because he's the son of DEMOCRATS.
the overusage of american politics is annoying in and of itself, but when paired up with this fairytale about how democrats are the good ones (they're not, they're fucking centrists), it becomes a headache inducing paradox.
you can have a latino main character, but the president of the united states is a white woman! also the prince has an indian man serving him! that's not weird!!!
tl;dr.: congratulations, you managed to join nightbitch in books that make me violently angry. at least nightbitch was short and wasn't afraid of writing about sex.
4.0
é-me um pouco difícil fazer resenha de um livro assim já que é tão pessoal, mais até que uma memória, na minha opinião. uma memória é um livro escrito após o facto, um diário não; vemos a repetição e a dor enquanto ela acontece, não numa lembrança.
também vi alguém a dar 2 estrelas porque a autora é hipócrita, que odeia a favela e os favelados sendo ela mesmo uma — deve ter sido ou falta de contexto ou tradução impessoal, porque não achei nada disso na versão original. não acho que seja hipocrisia, uma vez que as pessoas tratavam-na mal só porque sim, apesar dela os tratar com o mínimo de respeito em primeiras interações.
por isso, fica a 4 estrelas porque sim, é importante, mas sendo algo tão pessoal deixa-me meio desconfortável dar mais ou menos que isso, lol. também porque admito que havia partes em que eu não aguentei e dei umas risadas, como "cala a boca, tuberculosa" e uma das mulheres a dizer que já não se ia suicidar porque d--s a vinha salvar...
enfim, é uma leitura um pouco difícil devido ao facto de ser real, mas ao mesmo tempo lê-se bastante bem e rápido.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Incest, Pedophilia, and Vomit
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical content
Moderate: Addiction and Suicide attempt