Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - With Teeth

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

With Teeth by Kristen Arnett

27 reviews

belovedb33's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This (audio)book had me gasping multiple times. When I didn’t think it would go there, it did. I really enjoyed the complexity of the characters and seeing how time impacted the family dynamics.

When I finished the book, I still had plenty of questions.

When did Sammie move out? What happened with Monika and Megan? These aspects that seemed to be so important to the plot were just forgotten at the end.

I wish that I could have gotten Samson’s or Monika’s perspective at the end— I think that would have allowed for a conclusion to many of the plot strands that were just left hanging.

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paigeno's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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anxiousbookclub's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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alexiswiththefreckles's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I’m pretty sure I felt unsettled the entire time I read this book, which maybe was the goal? The unreliable narration intermixed with other character’s perspectives really had me thinking - what on earth is happening? - the entire time. I haven’t read a lot of books where I do not like the main narrator at all but still enjoyed the book, so I take that as a testament to Arnett’s excellent writing and storytelling.

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cody's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

ngl i kind of related to a few of sammie’s thoughts/behaviors toward her heavily neurodivergent-coded son and that’s SCARY

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opossumom's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

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

4.0

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nicolepaul_ine's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I’m just so confused as to what I just read. .. I made some notes halfway through reading this that I’ll post here:
White teeth

I don’t like the cliches of queer life - might be the reality for the author though but I wish the book had taken the portrayal of queer beyond the stereotypes that are already out there…

The characters are super unlikeable which I understand is the point but I personally just get more excited to read a book with at least one character I like.

Also there are a Bunch of random events that never get mentioned again - attempted kidnapping, swimming lessons where sammie cheats on her wife, therapy and stalking the neighbor (okay most of these come back later in the book but like too late??)

The amount of times there is drunk driving blows my mind - is this normal to some people? I don’t understand it at all!!

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