Didn’t hate this book but I felt it was poorly done. The writing was heavy handed and the “plot twist character” was totally unnecessary and therefore poorly developed, or actually, not at all developed. The only reason they existed was for a plot twist to happen which was also completely unnecessary to the story and was added for shock value alone.

Without spoiling anything, the “twist” wasn’t even a twist really, it didn’t shake your perception of the book or the characters or the narrative, it was just “BOOM! Surprised about this totally unbelievable connection??!?!?” I felt the use of the plot twists was disrespectful and hurtful to the communities those characters are a part of and it felt totally inappropriate because of how unnecessary it was. There was no commentary, no learning from it, no deeper point, it was just throw away characters by another character with a position of privilege to wreak havoc on those less privileged for no purpose.

I get this book is beloved, but it’s on my “regret spending my time reading it” list, sadly.