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A review by prettymuchhanna
I Love You So Much It's Killing Us Both by Mariah Stovall
dark
reflective
sad
slow-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
It's not mentioned in the summary of this book, but this novel is entirely centered around the eating disorders both the narrator and her best friend suffer. This is not a spoiler because it's revealed pretty much immediately. It is pretty explicit in its depiction of purging and calorie counting. Since the entire novel is about this, it does strike me as odd it's not mentioned anywhere in the summary. Especially since I think the content could be pretty triggering without any warning for some people.
There things I liked about this book-- the title, for one, is amazing. Stovall's prose was great. Khaki and Fiona's friendship is very interesting to read about, and I was really drawn in by figuring out why they became estranged, and if they would ever reconcile. I think this book could be more powerful if you had more of a connection/knowledge of the music it centers around, so that's partially my bad. Some scenes were very touching to me.
They became estranged because of Fiona's relapse and then recovery of her eating disorder, and Khaki's subsequent development of an eating disorder. This makes sense but I felt like it sort of built up and then there was no real huge reason, because from the beginning we know they were in a toxic codependent friendship. It sort of just felt lackluster to me. Khaki had almost no character development. I don't mind a slow lit fic novel, but this one just didn't really hit for me.
There things I liked about this book-- the title, for one, is amazing. Stovall's prose was great. Khaki and Fiona's friendship is very interesting to read about, and I was really drawn in by figuring out why they became estranged, and if they would ever reconcile. I think this book could be more powerful if you had more of a connection/knowledge of the music it centers around, so that's partially my bad. Some scenes were very touching to me.
Graphic: Eating disorder, Self harm, and Vomit
Moderate: Animal death