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moriahleigh's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death of parent and Grief
Moderate: Ableism, Police brutality, Racism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Forced institutionalization and Cancer
melodyseestrees'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
The edition I had did 'footnote' information in a jarring and disruptive way to the reading experience. Some whole pages had maybe a paragraph of information to them in an italicized font that was frustrating to read. These thoughts of Mia's surely could have been worked into the actual text as a mark of who she is as a person.
There were a few characters who appeared, did maybe two actions, and then disappeared never to be seen again
This book felt like it was trying to fit several stories into one- Harmonee's story, Mia's dad's story, Eugene's story, and Mia's memoir.
Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Racism, Cancer, and Bullying
Minor: Rape, War, and Suicide
lindseybkoehler'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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Chronic illness and Grief
Moderate: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cancer, Ableism, Mental illness, and Terminal illness
Minor: Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, and Deportation
skbat'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Ableism
Moderate: Car accident, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Cancer
Minor: Suicide, War, Confinement, Bullying, Racism, Blood, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Rape, and Police brutality
sparklefarm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Grief and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Cancer, Racism, Rape, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Ableism
oceanwriter'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
3.75
Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Cancer, Racism, and Bullying
Minor: Rape and War
jaimc's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cancer, Grief, Death of parent, and Terminal illness
Minor: Bullying, Racism, Car accident, Rape, Suicide, and War
alexisgarcia's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Racism, Car accident, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Ableism, Death of parent, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
emma_sky's review
- 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? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Death of parent, Xenophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Racism
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, War, Cancer, and Rape
_david_'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? It's complicated
4.0
The main character shows some bad behavious: making quick assumptions, speaking around a nonspeaking character instead of to them, and just acting as a general teenager. However, the future main character, whose POV we're following, calls her past self out on it and voices her shame. In general I feel like Mia would've made more sense as a teenager than someone in college/uni.
The author's background in philosophy shines through, especially in the exploration of happiness. It's clearly written by someone with an academic background.
The ending left a positive lasting impression. I'm sure I will think back on it often during the rest of my life.
The reason that I'm giving the book 4 stars instead of 5 is because the writer POV often annoyed me with her perspective. I specifically refer to all the moments which said something along the lines of "but with the information I know now, why [odd thing] happened made sense" without any further explanation. It happened too much and sometimes for relatively minor occurrences. It disrupted the flow of the story and was hard to take serious after a while. A small point that I disliked but not enough to affect the score, that only Mia, Adam (the dad) and Eugene were well rounded characters. Hannah (the mother) and especially John were quite flat eventhough they were very important to the story.
Graphic: Confinement, Racism, Violence, War, Death, Police brutality, Ableism, Bullying, Rape, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Car accident, Xenophobia, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Colonisation, and Mental illness
Minor: Dementia, Classism, Toxic relationship, and Cancer