Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Poster Girl

This was good but not amazing. It was thought-provoking and well-written; I definitely highlighted a lot of quotable passages! The sedate tone and style matched the protagonist’s personality which was also well-tied in with the plot and setting. It all hung together very skillfully. I really liked the ending. But the pace felt slow and reflective in a way that never got very exciting or emotionally personal for me so it took me a couple weeks to come back to it and finish it. Wasn’t a binging book for me (but that’s okay). I’d say read it if you’re interested in a story about the *aftermath* of what usually is the hot, exciting traditional dystopian tale (aka this author’s famous Divergent series). This is obviously a more mature writer and story which has its own pros and cons depending on the reader. But the setting and the way she handled the complexity and nuance of what happens to the poster child of a fascist regime after it toppled was well-done in my opinion. Definitely check content warnings though. I teach about these topics (fascism, propaganda, surveillance, censorship), and I’d recommend it if I worked with older high school or college kids.

Content Warnings

annamorgan27's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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americandropout's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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? It's complicated

3.5

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onthesamepage's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I know this is technically a scifi mystery, but if I take a moment to really analyze the themes here, I would almost consider this horror. Not the slasher kind, or the kind with monsters and supernatural creatures, but a type of psychological horror born from living in a surveillance state. Of course this book paints an extreme picture where every choice you make has positive or negative consequences, and the government monitors you constantly, but I think the surveillance part especially probably happens far more than we think it does. Which is a scary thought.

"It seems to me," she says, "that if your every choice is in defiance of a system, you are as much a servant of that system as someone who obeys it."

I'd consider this book more of a character-driven story than a solid mystery. It's about Sonya learning to let go of all the rules she has lived by her entire life, and about how the Delegation isn't the utopian society she still considers it to be. The mystery of the missing child is what forces her to confront some of her convictions, but it ultimately feels more like the driver for Sonya's character development than the core of the story. That said, I enjoyed seeing Sonya come to terms with what she thought to be true. She comes across initially as someone who is a stickler for the rules. She keeps a constant tally in her head of all the things she does, and how many points they would get her in the old system. However, there are also moments where she exhibits an unexpected fierceness and unwillingness to let others walk over her, and I think we got more of those moments as the story progresses.

I do feel like there are some plot holes here. For example, Sonya has an Insight in her eye, which allows the current government to access footage of where she has been and what she's been doing. I just keep wondering, why didn't she cover it with an eye patch to stop them from tracking her? She even mentions how uncomfortable she used to find the thought that they could watch her undressing, and how she had to let go of doing everything in the dark because it just wasn't possible. An eye patch seems like a pretty decent solution to me.

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