Reviews tagging 'Violence'

With Teeth by Kristen Arnett

9 reviews

sadig27's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Infertility, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Grief, Medical content, Alcohol, Medical trauma, and Child death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Vomit, and Panic attacks/disorders

girlygirlreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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 book had me addicted from the beginning. I usually don’t love unreliable narrative stories but I love this one! The added in side characters the main character interacts with is great. The ending is oof. Relatable in the worst ways. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Violence

everie's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.25

Kind of feels like a bog-standard bourgeoisie (as in the everyday struggles of the middle class) novel, and not enjoyable to read to boot. There's a half interesting thread of how we see ourselves vs the usually more sympathetic perceptions others have of us, and a mother scared to connect with a son she doesn't understand, but they're buried under

typical cheating drama

and a trodding narration

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

cassidys_bookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, and Addiction

Moderate: Emotional abuse

painausten314's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Cursing, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Violence, Sexual content, and Miscarriage

Minor: Homophobia and Vomit

anngarth8's review against another edition

1.0

This book was feral and I found it really painful to read. I don't mean that a criticism -- I think Kristen Arnett accomplished probably exactly what she set out to do -- but it was not the right book for me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism and Violence

leah_alexandra's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I'm surprised I liked this as much as I did. This was a really well-crafted story. It was dark, and tense, and the tension never feels resolved, but it's clear that effect is purposeful. 

On further reflection, I do think the book suffers a bit from under-development of the secondary characters, especially Samson.

Based on the set-up and first part of the book, I expected it to go in a darker, kind of horror-esque direction, with Samson's odd behavior. But more and more I think his behavior was just being a kid who felt misunderstood, considering he evens out as a teen, and the second part of the book goes in a more typical direction of describing a woman's destructive tendencies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Kidnapping, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence

caseythereader's review

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-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

4.25

- This book was by no means an easy read - like Arnett's previous work, it was even downright difficult and uncomfortable at times. However, I truly appreciate that we've arrived at a place where not every queer character must be a perfect person, and we can explore messy and unlikable characters.
- I was there for the examination of queer adult/married life, and how the characters struggled with trying to match heterosexual norms while also losing their connections to other queer people.
- Every character in this book is just horrid and makes such terrible decisions, and yet you can't help but feel for them. It's quite a trick, and Arnett is the master of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

suzyreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.0

thanks @riverheadbooks for the e-ARC!

In WITH TEETH, we are taken through a journey with Sammie, her wife Monika, and their son Samson. It is weird, darkly humorous, anxiety-provoking literary fiction about lesbian parenthood, expectations, obligations, love, aging, and the helplessness of parenthood (was this supposed to make me terrified of having children??).

I was on the edge of my seat for this entire character-driven book. Sammie is paranoid & hard to trust, desperately clinging to her family and the nostalgia of their past, even as she’s actively picking apart those memories and hyperfocusing on the negative. She seems to feel equally consumed by her family’s looming presence and needs, and the inertia of her life in their absence.

I read this in three gulps, only stopping when I had to force myself to put down the book so that Sammie’s internal dialogue wouldn’t take me with her as she spirals into chaos. Her impulsiveness had me skipping pages ahead to make sure she’d make it through, even as I questioned why I thought she deserved to get away with anything. Her parenting style was infuriating and controlling and ableist and yet maybe not entirely unrealistic. The Florida setting made me feel all the more uneasy: the sweaty humidity fills every page, making it hard to breathe as you realize the outdoors are just as claustrophobic as their house.

One note - at the end of many chapters, we were given POVs from random side characters. I think leaving these out would have made the book a bit more effective, allowing us to truly lean into the ambiguity of the narrative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Fatphobia

Moderate: Ableism and Violence