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Maggie Terry by Sarah Schulman
4.0
challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was a fascinating and by turns gorgeous and humanly frustrating; the characters are so, sometimes painfully real, and Schulman manages to render every character in stark light. The titular Maggie Terry's struggle through not just her addiction but a whole new reality on the other side of rehab, a new world full of gentrification and loss of love as well as the troubling past of her career as a cop, really strips bare the consequences of refusing to talk to one another, on all sides--and while that in its more trope forms I know can be a turnoff for many readers, in this case it's so painfully realistic that it's not Plot Convenient but more just... how people are when they're traumatized and socialized in a world that so rarely allows for honest conversation. Definitely recommend. 

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