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sreddous's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- 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
The prose here is lovely, and if there's any framing that poetic, flowery, metaphor-filled language is really effective for, it's exploring generational trauma. In that regard, I think the lack of a "real three-act structure" is fine: the point is that these families have no choice but to keep going, keep going, and nothing is predictable and the end goals aren't always clear. I feel like a lot of families probably have similar stories to these, and that's really cool to see it represented like thsi.
I think a few things made it so I wish this book was longer: there's a LOT of domestic abuse and emotional abuse in the book that I think is explained away too quickly. I don't think it's exactly unrealistic -- a lot of people choose to stay in abusive situations even while knowing how horrible the situations are -- but then, the reasons why those people stay are super complex and nuanced, and a book that's got this many characters and this many plot lines doesn't really have the space to explore those nuances in the way they deserve. This book definitely gets uncomfortable, and that's not a bad thing, but I wish the characters who experienced abuse got more than just a few paragraphs of, "ah, now that [whatever situation] has changed, that person doesn't abuse me anymore!" which is really how it feels sometimes, and that's too shallow a take on a topic like that.
Content warning: domestic abuse, emotional abuse, racism, miscarriage, suicide (all pretty graphic)
I think a few things made it so I wish this book was longer: there's a LOT of domestic abuse and emotional abuse in the book that I think is explained away too quickly. I don't think it's exactly unrealistic -- a lot of people choose to stay in abusive situations even while knowing how horrible the situations are -- but then, the reasons why those people stay are super complex and nuanced, and a book that's got this many characters and this many plot lines doesn't really have the space to explore those nuances in the way they deserve. This book definitely gets uncomfortable, and that's not a bad thing, but I wish the characters who experienced abuse got more than just a few paragraphs of, "ah, now that [whatever situation] has changed, that person doesn't abuse me anymore!" which is really how it feels sometimes, and that's too shallow a take on a topic like that.
Content warning: domestic abuse, emotional abuse, racism, miscarriage, suicide (all pretty graphic)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Emotional abuse, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Racism
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