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challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Some of the rhetoric will not fly today, but its exploration of self-sabotage in the midst of dissatisfaction has aged very well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Classism
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Car accident, Pregnancy, War
Minor: Gun violence, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder
Be aware that there is bootlegging, carbon monoxide poisoning, dissolution of a marriage, mob violence, and prostitution.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A slow burn that becomes increasingly compulsively readable as the story progresses, thanks to O’Hara’s incredibly tight, snappy writing and absorbing dialogue and characterization.
Part character study, part condemnation of the self-absorbed small town elite in Prohibition-era America, who ruin their own and each other’s lives with reckless abandon. And an eerie look at how one seemingly insignificant lapse of judgment can trigger a catastrophic series of events that sends an already discontented person over the edge. The moments when we, the reader, sympathize with Julian’s most self-destructive impulses are the moments when O’Hara shows us how we, too, feel stifled in our day-to-day lives by the constraints of superficial “polite” society.
Part character study, part condemnation of the self-absorbed small town elite in Prohibition-era America, who ruin their own and each other’s lives with reckless abandon. And an eerie look at how one seemingly insignificant lapse of judgment can trigger a catastrophic series of events that sends an already discontented person over the edge. The moments when we, the reader, sympathize with Julian’s most self-destructive impulses are the moments when O’Hara shows us how we, too, feel stifled in our day-to-day lives by the constraints of superficial “polite” society.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Minor: Infidelity