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loveat1stwrite's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Death, Alcohol, Blood, Alcoholism, Drug use, Gun violence, and Murder
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, and Physical abuse
komiification'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: Addiction, Cursing, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Murder, Gun violence, Death, Suicide, Drug use, Blood, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Grief, Mental illness, Classism, and Misogyny
Minor: Rape
taylorc19's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Now, for what I didn't like so much:
- This book dragged. It took me two months to finish it, and I'm someone who usually can finish a book within a few days of opening it. I couldn't push myself to finish more than a chapter at a time. I found my eyelids growing heavy and my yawns becoming more frequent as I tried to slog my way through the dense yet uninteresting plot. This story could have been written in 300 pages. I gained absolutely nothing from the monotonous chapters of the character who died's funeral or from the search party for them. I found myself skimming through the last 40% of this book, and I wouldn't say I missed much.
- Maybe I'm not made for character-heavy, low-plot books. But that brings me to my next grievance: how can you write a character-driven book and make every single character utterly vile? The only character who I found myself somewhat sympathizing with by the end was Judy, the neighbor of Richard who gossiped too much and frequently did drugs such as cocaine and meth. Could we really not give any more positive personality traits to the core six students or Julian? Camila and Charles (the twins) appear to be kind and relatively receptive towards Richard when he first joins the group, however, they spiral into a violent alcoholic (Charles) and a manipulative liar (Camila). Bunny goes from jovial and bubbly to a person who blackmails their friends and is so insecure he is driven to a mental breakdown. And, my God, don't get me started on Richard. He is possibly the most uninteresting person I have ever had the displeasure of reading about. He seems to live such a pitiful existence where all he wants is acceptance from others. With character-driven books, I feel like I have to actually care about the characters. I wish nothing but the worst for basically every single person in this book. These characters were snobby, elitist, reprehensible, borderline sociopathic criminals yet I'm still supposed to believe Richard's favorable descriptions of them?
- Why are we adding random bouts of incest into this book???? I don't understand what that added to any of the characters nor why it was important to the plot??? It felt included merely for the shock factor.
- I think this book would have benefited from switching narrators during the second half. After the murder (and I use that term rather loosely) occurs, Richard should not have been the narrator. He doesn't know what's going on at all, he isn't involved in any of the police proceedings, and he spends the last 300 pages of the book rambling in a drunken stupor about-wait for it-NOTHING! I wish we had switched narrators to Henry or even Charles. People who were actually being questioned and were actually plotting on how to get away with the murder. Henry is framed to be this psychopathic mastermind. However, we don't actually get any explanation of his thoughts after the murder, who he planned to pin it on, or how he explained virtually anything to the police. I understand it's not a police-proceedings book, but I mean, come on, give us some explanation as to how they got away with this instead of just throwaway comments at the end by a paranoid Charles. Giving us Henry's point of view would have also explained the ending more since that came out of nowhere.
- Why did we throw in that line about Richard having the urge to rape Camila????????????? And why did we never touch on that again???????????
This book was dense, boring, and had no real point. Having superfluous, flowery language and rambling about Greek studies does not make for a good book! I almost DNF'd it hundreds of times while reading, but I needed to be able to say I gave it a fair shot. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless you enjoy reading about miserable creatures who think they're God's gift to the world. Someone please tell me what I'm missing that is so magical and life-changing about this book.
Good riddance, Hampden. I won't miss you.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Classism, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Antisemitism, Death, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Violence, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Incest, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Toxic friendship
luhchan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, and Drug use
ctb681's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Child abuse and Car accident
dkamada's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism
Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, Animal cruelty, Murder, Blood, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Classism, Gun violence, Mental illness, Incest, Addiction, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship
naomi_salters's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Chronic illness, Drug use, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Cursing, Drug abuse, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, Incest, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, Self harm, Sexism, Addiction, Death, Body shaming, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Bullying, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Animal death, and Violence
arthedgehog's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Incest, Gaslighting, Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Death, and Classism
Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Xenophobia, Gore, Death, Alcohol, Incest, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Racism, Toxic friendship, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Gun violence, Animal death, Islamophobia, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Murder, Infidelity, Antisemitism, Drug use, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Gore, Drug use, Classism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Islamophobia, Cursing, Sexual assault, Rape, Abandonment, Car accident, Suicide, Sexism, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Biphobia, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Eating disorder, Deportation, Racism, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Misogyny, and Incest
phantomeyer's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Moderate: Classism, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Homophobia, Murder, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Sexual assault, Blood, Cultural appropriation, Gore, Incest, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicide attempt
breadkingbread's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Also a smaller spoiler but the whole "Isram" thing feels incredibly out of place. Like this book references real life cultures and bigotry so many times but she felt the need to create a whole new place which is obviously just there as a stand-in for like any "Arab" country? Just feels like it was made specifically so that these short parts of the book had a sort of fictionalized cloak on them while leaving everything else largely realistic (in terms of cultures) for reasons unknown to me.
Graphic: Alcohol, Murder, and Grief
Minor: Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Violence, Antisemitism, Classism, Islamophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Suicide