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maceydowns's review
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Body horror, Grief, and Mental illness
Moderate: Death, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts
talonsontypewriters'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? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Xenophobia, Gore, Eating disorder, Racism, and Body horror
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Violence, and Cannibalism
Minor: Homophobia, War, Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Drug use, Incest, Sexual content, and Animal cruelty
traa'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
5.0
Graphic: Eating disorder, Body horror, and Blood
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Sexual content, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
sofipitch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Death of parent and Eating disorder
Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“‘…Please to tell a story about a girl who gets away.’
‘Gets away from what, though?’
‘From her fairy godmother. From the happy ending that isn’t really happy at all. Please have her get out and run off the page altogether, to somewhere secret where words like happy and good will never find her.’
‘You don’t want her to be happy and good?’
‘I’m not sure what’s really meant by happy and good. I would like her to be free. Now. Please begin.’”
“Still, I wondered if the salt and pepper were really necessary—they seemed too cruel when it would be easier to despatch her by blowing out her flame before it grew, or by holding a mirror up to her wrinkled face and saying, ‘I don’t believe in you.’ But then, maybe ‘I don’t believe in you’ is the cruellest way to kill a monster.”
“Miranda went down barefoot, like Eurydice. She walked with her fingers spread over her face, because no one must see.”
- everything else by Helen Oyeyemi
- THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, by Shirley Jackson
- TELL ME I’M WORTHLESS, by Alison Rumfitt
- BABEL, by RF Kuang
- the original “Snow White”
- ALICE IN WONDERLAND, by Lewis Carroll
- Gwendolyn Brooks
Graphic: Body horror and Eating disorder
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
miyothecat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Mental illness, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Grief
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Incest, and Suicide
stopaskingking's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Eating disorder, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent
headachesince03's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Addiction, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Lesbophobia, Self harm, Death, Body shaming, Body horror, Hate crime, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Gore, Eating disorder, and Death of parent
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Blood, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Gore, Lesbophobia, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Suicide
Minor: Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Bullying, Alcohol, Stalking, Incest, Gun violence, Drug use, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Murder, and Xenophobia
hownoveljo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Body horror, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide
savvylit'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
3.5
But overall I felt like Oyeyemi was creatively overextending herself in this story. Too many issues were addressed but not thoroughly explored. Too many creepy things hinted at but not quite revealed. I wished that the novel had been a little more polished.
The story overall was a very bleak slice of life, primarily focusing on Miranda. Which is unfortunate because I didn't like Miranda. Miranda is a bit of a two-dimensional cliche of a mentally ill young woman. Also, I really loved that one of the narrators was the house, but I didn't feel like we heard enough from their perspective.
Ultimately, I had a lot of questions throughout the story that I felt were never answered. And not in a good, ambiguous ending way. More like a "why did the thread of this story get dropped so quickly" kinda way. All of our narrators are unreliable but the true story is never really revealed.
Graphic: Eating disorder, Suicide, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Death of parent