falon
jesus. christ. where do i even begin with this book?
i want to start by saying a book has never before made me cry this much. i don't consider myself to be much of a book crier unless it's my absolute favorite series or something. but goddamn this was really something else.
this book is very much a study of trauma, yes, but it talks about so many other things. chronic illness, addiction, success, fame, failure, found families. there is so much inside of this book and it doesn't all flow perfectly but that's because this book truly does not feel like a story, it feels like real life, where things are imperfect and often out of order and irrational.
i've never read about a set of characters that feel more real. there were many times i had to remind myself that these were things that were fictional because of how raw and honest and unflinchingly the story was told it felt it could only be real life.
the way that trauma is discussed in this novel is truly unlike anything i have ever read. it shows the harsh reality that so many things never really leave us. we often like to think of survivors as these individuals who can confidently tell their stories and inspire others and are perfect people afterwards, but this book shows the true reality of the shame, resentment, anger, and self-hatred of trauma. and while it is truly one of the best things to hear when a person can come to terms with themselves and talk openly about the things they've been through, some people never get to that point, and that is an equally important side of trauma to discuss.
it never tries to make jude, or any of the characters, into something they're not. they behave as real people do; imperfectly and flawed. they hurt each other and they lash out when they shouldn't but that's what makes this story so impactful. how real and genuine every character's actions and feelings are portrayed make this so good and why it means so much. i often found myself forgetting i was reading and just feeling like i was another one of jude's friends, watching his life unfold and desperate to try and make him see how beautiful he is but never able to.
i could honestly go on and on about how incredible this book was, i think the last thing i'll say is that, while this is one of the saddest things i have ever read, it has also touched me the most and i know this is a story i will carry with me forever.
this touches on a lot of similar themes to frankenstein, though obviously in a less obvious and more realistic context. i just love mary shelley's rhythmic, lyrical writing. she builds such interesting characters and explored dark themes in such an interesting way, especially for her time. super underrated.
This is a really good book with a lot of super helpful information, i just knocked off the star and a half for obnoxious organization and writing things. She would do this thing where she would present an idea and then say “well get to that in chapter 5” or whatever and it happened so. often. like every few paragraphs. it happened mostly in the fictional examples of the four women recurring throughout your book. they almost always ended with “she needed to do this thing we'll talk about in a later chapter” and it was just tiresome. It was also an extremely repetitive book; perhaps it's because she's a teacher but it recalled itself so so often that it felt like when you haven't gone to class for a couple days so the teacher does a big recap, but in this context I was reading it quickly so i was just being hit over the head with not only the same information, but the same phrasing. Anyways, besides those I think this is a really helpful book with a ton of great information that could've easily been whittled down.
i really wanted to love this, but sadly, no. the writing was most of the time extremely unimpressive except for a few beautiful lines which then stuck out awkwardly amongst all the boring writing. the main character was extremely flat, the flashbacks to her relationship did nothing because they were such cliche events and conversations that could have been pulled from any YA romance. Overall this entire book was relentlessly underwhelming and cliche.
I found this book super enjoyable and I really liked what it had to say. It reminded me of the kinds of YA thrillers that I enjoy, which is more of the scream tv show over pretty little liars. However the completely unnecessary and underdeveloped supernatural plot line as well as the ending as a whole brought this down from somewhere in the four range.
This book is THOROUGH which, from a journalistic standpoint I can appreciate, but to read a full novel where it feels like every person involved with this case (victims, police, etc) were so fully explored made it a bit too much for me to enjoy fully. I definitely have more of a knowledge on the green river killer, but I'm not sure if I needed to read this.
I think this is a really excellent piece of feminist work. It sets up all its arguments, counter arguments, is very concise with its language while conveying its message in a few well explained paragraphs. However it did get a bit repetitive, both in using the same words/phrases continuously (like colluding) where it was unnecessary, as well as perhaps not being the most inclusive with its language. However, definitely have the a lot of the language to talk about masculinity/patriarchy issues in a way that would make sense to people unversed, for which I'm very glad I read this book.
you know those poems college magazines love that quote greek myths and compare instagram to medusa or whatever and you think “yeah that sounded nice but my soul feels even more dead, not because of a good poem but the fact that something else this pretentious is being propped up”? this is that as a novel.
this book had a lot going for it. it's commentary on external and internalized racism and the weight of history was so incisive. but the actual plot and characters ended up falling flat for me. i thought there was going to be a much more explosive ending to make up for the pretty slow beginning, but we never really got there and by the end i felt very unsatisfied. i understand what the story was going for, but i also had a hard time staying engaged with the writing style for some reason. i can say that perhaps i was looking for something other than what the story was saying.