“I'm not too good when exposed to people”

I bought this book without a second thought when I heard it had a unique formatting style/was composed out of a collection of letters, files, and documents. I always have a soft spot for books that try to tell their story in unique ways, and this book definitely held up that trend!

Spoiler

I especially loved the reveal of this being a book put together by the daughter, with all the information collected by her and someone she thought to be 'evil', it was a great twist and adds another layer to the story itself.

I also loved how easily this book read. Once you started reading, you were just pulled along in the story, and suddenly you're another 50 pages further. It made it an extremely easy book to pick up and put back down frequently, which fit perfectly into my schedule at the time! I also enjoyed the way it was written as well, with varying voices and writing traits for each individual person. It made the characters really come together even though you only got to know them from letters and conversations had long before (except for Bee, of course).

The story itself was also quite beautiful. There was a lot going on in almost every character's life, and seeing the pieces puzzle together (or fight with each other to make space) lead to a multi-faceted read overall. However, the story that stuck out the most to me was definitely Bernadette's. I can't help but feel for her in every scene, even in the ones where she's acting extremely awfully. There's just something in the intense trauma in her past combined with her forcing herself in a life she never wanted that rung out. The ending only solidified my opinion of the whole thing, as it wasn't the perfect happy ending nor too sad and heartbreaking, but just a tough of both.

The missing star mainly comes from my lack of connection at some points to Bee, or to the novel in general, where I found myself accidentally skimming long section of Bee describing her life and her anger at the world. Something about her never truly clicked with me, even if I did like her as a narrator.

Overall, I recommend this as a quick yet deep read, and I can add this to my growing list of oddly formatted books that I love!