Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Worry by Alexandra Tanner

10 reviews

egheinze's review

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dark funny tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
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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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fuguballoon's review

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Lost patience waiting for a plot that never came. The characters are realistic as far as how awful they are, but that doesn't make me want to spend time with them.
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orchidd's review

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tense medium-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

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alexisgarcia's review

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

4.5

a very VERY real depiction of sisterhood and bad family dynamics 
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liblibby's review

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

4.0

Ordinarily I don't enjoy books in the "depressed twenty-something woman who lives in NYC" genre but I rather enjoyed this one. Maybe because it's about sisters and I have such a complex non-relationship with my sister that a story about sisters who love each other--even if they hate each other, was what my soul needed. But also, this story stayed on the humorous side of realistic. It didn't get too depressing but it still felt very honest.
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mmccombs's review

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dark funny reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

The statement “I think you guys might be thinking about yourselves too much” in book form. Chronically online, full of mind-numbing Instagram conspiracy theories, endless consumption and misery and nihilism. But I swear it’s also funny! I thought the writing and character work here was very well done. It’s difficult to capture the intense kind of love that is also deeply toxic and often hateful that can exist between sisters (and mothers), knowing that these characters are acting this way out of deep love and even deeper insecurity. I do think the ending was a bit strange and out of nowhere, it kept up the themes of this book but otherwise didn’t feel like it fit, being as quick and jarring as it was. If you are a fan of messy 20-something coming of age stories, I’d say this is another solid installment, though I can’t say it’s the strongest of the genre.
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juliapls's review

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dark funny tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I wanted this story to just say more. There were some really witty passages and interesting moments but what you get from the first few chapters of the book is all you'll get from the book. A slice of life that should have been a short story.
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brinnavirginia's review

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

5.0

Genuinely hilarious. A true dramedy, full of current pop culture content which feels self-referential rather than dating but still anchoring the book in the just-right time for the story to work exactly as it does, all while telling a timeless story of woman- and sisterhood. What a treat!!

“Having a sister is looking in a cheap mirror: what’s there is you, but unfamiliar and ugly for it.”
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