Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Worry

Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Worry by Alexandra Tanner

29 reviews

readmollyread's review against another edition

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3.5

Lacking resolution !!!!!!!!

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jdamae11's review against another edition

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dark funny fast-paced

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

4.0

This was genuinely hilarious. I actually cackled many times reading this book. I don’t imagine it being as funny if you haven’t been chronically online // aren’t a millennial & that might be a major self read but aw well. There’s a particular sequence with the narrator, a doctors office, and a goldfish that I was wheezing at. The main characters are a hot mess express. Everyone is so unwell and so toxic to each other, especially the two sisters at the heart of it all. It’s all a bit unfiltered and absurd. The narrator, Jules, is insufferable and has a deeply unsettling parasocial relationship with conspiracy-theorist-religious mommy bloggers on Instagram. No real plot just vibes. I loved it!

***tiny spoilers below***

The ending with the dog was so fitting but jarred tf out of me & was the one time in the book I actually couldn’t stand the main character in a visceral way, that’s the only reason it “lost a star” (if I have to use a rating system).

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lcg527's review against another edition

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funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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lisasilv's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

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

1.0

I kept waiting for this book to have a point and it never did. I had hoped that the ending would wrap things up, but it didn’t. I didn’t like any of the characters and they all just got to be more annoying over time. I generally don’t like not finishing books, so I got through this one because it was relatively short and at least moved quickly.

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c1aud55n's review against another edition

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tense fast-paced

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

A lot of people seemingly loved the nothingness of this book, and while I tend to be a huge fan of plotless book I was not a fan of this one. Alexandra Tanner has no reason to change her style for me, but I definitely see glimpses of a writing style I could really enjoy one day. I loved the few glimpses of a theme I saw in this book, about depression and internet obsession. She placed us so solidly in 2019, during the Trump presidency and before Covid, and managed to say a lot without hitting us over the head with her messaging, but her main character never seemed to be internalizing this messaging or to be doing anything with it.

Earlier this month I read The Idiot by Elif Batuman. I really loved The Idiot while I have clearly come to despise Worry. I would sum up both of these books as being about "a depressed young woman doing nothing but still acting as a cultural critique for an entire novel."

The difference between Jules and Seline is that Seline's nothingness leaves her fundamentally changed at the end of the novel. While she was not proactive in changing herself the circumstances that she encounters in the book leave both the main character and the reader fundamentally changed. Jules does not go through any type of journey. She does not change and she does not learn. We never fully glimpse who she is at the beginning of the novel and a shock value ending robs us of seeing who she could become in the future.

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saanyakanwar's review

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dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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bildungswalton's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Fucking terrible ending but overall very very good. Also the undiagnosed narcissistic mother was one of the most infuriating characters I’ve ever encountered.

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