Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

9 reviews

chrisljm's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I've never really found myself enjoying twists in thriller novels because they often feel like the author trying to pull a fast one on me, but I think it's done well in this book and I was positively stunned I must say. I thought I was able to see what was coming but I truly didn't. This was a very unique story, so creative, and honestly more than being a thriller, it was very sad. 

I can tell the author truly did her research on DID and I really appreciate that. I enjoyed reading the ending author's note where she detailed her research process, as well as the people and resources she utilized. I also love seeing her inclusion of a bibliography with all her sources.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Grief, Torture, Violence, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, Confinement, Gore, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Cursing, Fatphobia, and Eating disorder

mel_j's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I guessed the first two plot twists very quickly, but even after that, the book kept surprising me. Brilliantly written, very twisty, with deeply human characters. It had a creepy atmosphere, but ended up heartbreaking. 
What a great book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Death of parent, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Body horror, and Blood

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Alcohol, and Homophobia

hotdrinks's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Really vivid atmosphere! I cared a lot about the characters.

Kind of exposition heavy at the end. I usually really hate exposition and clean endings where most everything is answered, but honestly I just really loved Ted from the beginning, so it was nice seeing them get a happy ending. It's also very refreshing to see DID used in a mystery and not end up being the source of the horror. Even though there is a happy ending, there's still a good bit of tragedy with Dee's story. Over all I really liked it!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Stalking, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Child death, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Murder, Ableism, and Blood

niceonehros's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

While much of the content is troubling, disturbing, and hard, this book was worth the discomfort. I don't want to give anything away, but do make sure you read the Afterword.

kcelena's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Torture, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Gore, and Mental illness

julienicole1106's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Blood, Confinement, Vomit, Cursing, Death, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

whatathymeitwas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'm going to be honest, by the time I was about halfway through this, I was irritated and thought I would hate it by the end. I've maybe never had a book so suddenly change my thoughts on it as this one.

The blurb is very correct. Initially, you think you know what's going on here. Then a couple more times you maybe shift that around some and have an AH-HA! moment, and you think about the blurb, and you tell yourself oh boy they almost got me there. And that's when it changes on you again and you realize you did not in fact have a clue.

It was the second or third little shift that made me think I'd hate this. I had a terrible feeling it was going in a direction that was shocking for the sake of being shocking, and for whatever reason it made me angry. I'm not sure why, because this book is very well written, well fleshed out, with really lifelike characters for the most part. I guess maybe that was the issue, I couldn't reconcile why in the middle of all that, suddenly it would be taking a hard left turn into shock territory somewhat unnecessarily.

I'm happy to say that didn't happen, and I was shook by the time I realized what was really going on and how things linked together, in ways I was completely misled from considering. Color me surprised.

This book is so much more than I thought it was at that point, and it's completely different than what I expected at any point other than the very end. Definitely looking forward to Sundial now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Stalking, Body horror, Child death, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Confinement, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Grief

libraryofdoe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

How to talk about this book without spoilers? What I can say is it’s absolutely fantastic, harrowing and packs a heavy punch.

The premise is that a woman moves to a street where the man who she believes abducted her younger sister 11 years ago lives. The novel is both about that and absolutely not about that (I know, frustrating when you’re trying to decide whether to read it). I definitely advise reading the trigger warnings and going in somewhat prepared. If you like mental health rep, unreliable narrators and horror that makes you think, this is for you.

I need to reread this ASAP, knowing what was going on, so that I can pick out the inner and outer world parts. I will also be looking for reviews from people with DID to see how well the novel portrays it, as while I have a trauma-based dissociative disorder and have engaged previously with a lot of the content listed in the bibliography, I don’t have any form of DID and I therefore can’t speak on the representation. To me, it was fantastic and so, so sad. Amazing to see a novel use characters with these disorders and not have them be a villain. I feel this book really encourages the reader to question their worldview and view on mental health, and the afterword has me sobbing even now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Homophobia

thesaltiestlibrarian's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

 Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm having trouble writing down my thoughts, so I'll make this one short and cut to the chase.

THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET is taut and stressful in the best ways. While I thought the characters were fantastic and the connections ultimately ended up satisfying, there was something lacking for me. I can't figure out what it was, because there's so much to unpack in this novel.

Damn, I can't even go into details without spoilers! Just...do yourself a favor and go read this. It's good, don't worry. It's really good. It held me until I had to wrest its talons out of my face, so have no fear about keeping your attention.

The most upsetting thing about the book was that messed up shit like this really happens, and that children can be cruel and indifferent. Will I buy this for my own library? Yeah, I think I will. I need to go into a physical copy with a pencil and some highlighters. The suitcase has not yet been cracked open.

SPOILERY THING HERE:
I really appreciated the representation of DID here. I had a close friend a long time ago who suffered from it, and this was the most compassionate representation I've seen so far. And I REALLY liked that it wasn't a villain trope, because if there's one thing that pisses me right off, it's mental illness being used as a fulcrum for villainry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Kidnapping