So this book is only 193 pages long. It felt much longer.

I actually listened to this on audiobook. It's only a 5-hour production, and I listened to in on 2x speed, and it still felt like it took forever to get through.

A lot of people talk about the wonderful writing in this book, and at first I was in that camp. However, as I kept listening I realized that it is that kind of flowery language that exists just for the sake of sounding different. So many of the metaphors made zero sense. I wish I'd taken notes while I was listening, but I just didn't care enough to go to that trouble. Just know going into it that there will be countless silly sounding sentences that can't be described as anything other than cringy. The weirdest thing about the writing was that it would be super flowery and metaphorical one moment, and then it would turn crude and blunt the next. It just didn't work for me.

I have never been to the Ozarks. For all I know, this is a very accurate portrayal of that area and the people who live there. I have, however, lived in a small town where drugs run rampant. I have also been poor, although not as poor as the characters in this book. But I have to say, as bad as things ever got, I never met a group of people as miserable as the people in this book. Every single moment is a struggle, and everyone is looking to take advantage or hurt everyone around them. There are literally zero lighthearted moments in this book.

One thing that struck me as strange was that every time someone took drugs they would basically announce it to whoever was in the scene. Ree's uncle is the first that comes to mind, but drugs are mentioned on nearly every page. But he would come into a scene and say something like, "I've been doing crank for three days. Do you want some?" It just didn't strike me as realistic at all.

I also thought the relationship between Gail and Ree was really poorly-written. Neither of them ever provide a label for themselves as far as their sexual identity. There are descriptions in this book of their physically intimate relationship, but nothing is ever defined.

I also found myself cringing in the scenes where Gail would breastfeed her child. Not because I have any kind of issue with women breastfeeding, but because it was written as if it was a sexual thing. There was so much description of her breasts and how Ree was staring at Gail while her son sucked on her nipple and so many other things that just rubbed me the wrong way. Breastfeeding is not a sexual thing and should not be treated as such. But when we have a male author writing about two female characters who are sexually attracted to one another, everything has to be overly sexual. Oh wait, no it doesn't.

The plot of this book was really weak. I found myself so incredibly bored. We are supposed to wonder what happened to Ree's father but I found myself not caring. It was poorly written and the pacing was atrocious.

Overall, this book was a big miss for me, which I'm bummed about because I feel like it did have potential. I think I'll still watch the movie at some point, just to compare. I've seen a couple reviews where the reviewer said they preferred the movie to the book, so I want to judge for myself.