Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Mijn jaar van rust en kalmte by Ottessa Moshfegh

201 reviews

marns20_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Honestly? This is the most UNHINGED book I’ve ever read and probably will ever read??? but I loved it sooo much and I can’t even tell you why. Every 5 pages I literally said ‘Wtaf’ to myself out loud. It’s truly bizarre, in the best way. There were so many moments that you couldn’t help but laugh that had me thinking omg am I crazy too, I definitely shouldn’t be laughing at that. Her perplexing friendship with Reva was my favourite thing to read. The complex feeling of loving someone but not liking them, your friendship evolving past having nothing in common anymore because you have both grown separately yet you are still inextricably linked by history alone, not being able to let them go even though they’re no good for you and vice versa. 

The weird candid way she describes her parents and her relationship with them throws you off balance because she says really deep and personal things but in a detached, emotionless way that keeps you at arms length almost like when someone is crying but they don’t want you to hug or comfort them and you just stand there awkwardly staring at them. As unrelatable as the main character is (white, rich, privileged) her experience of the lethargy and apathy towards life was very relatable. Her crazy experiment is probably something we have all wished we could do at some point. I know I have. At parts, I found myself desperately rooting for her experiment to work, for her to be able to pull herself out of her despair and then other times you really couldn’t ignore what a truly terrible person she was, terrible friend she was. This struck a chord thinking about how mental health affects your relationships, your inability to show up or want to show up for people, it makes you irritable and mean, only willing to do the bare minimum despite how much you hate it or how much you love them. The complex nature of the human condition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Chronic illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Abortion

lauchpferd's review against another edition

dark slow-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

1.5

!Spoilers!

I don't know why this book exists, this should've been a short story and even then the plot is extremely flimsy. It took me 6 months to finally finish because of how much it drags it's feet. Most of the characters are completely unlikable and don't change or develop at all over the course of the story.

The main character does a 180 in her personality once the author realises the book is almost over but there are no in-story justifications for it. Reva dying is cliché, of course the best friend has to die for the betterment of the main character. Using 9/11 and her subsequently buying a new DVR to record it as a metaphor just seems crass, as does the very last line: "There she is, a human being, diving into the unknown, and she is wide awake."

While the occasional sentence or image might be interesting, (the arctic fox freezing to death) it's immediately undermined by whatever comparison to genitals the author can come up with.

The book was recommended to me for being "deep" and "real" but I'd say it's the exact opposite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Infidelity, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

zenizage's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.75

Having literally read this within two days and just finished it (immediate thoughts before having let it simmer): My main problem with this book was that I had heard it was funny and it said it was funny on the back (or someone was quoted saying it was funny) and as I was reading, it kept creeping into my head why the hell people thought this was funny. 
I found the depiction of the main protagonist's depression and the people (ab)using her razor sharp at times. Maybe it was borderline triggering for me. But that being said: it captures depression and the feeling of having no self-worth (and not even having the will to fight for it) quite well!

I am not American and the extreme use of medication was ... maybe even most frustrating to me. Maybe I didn't get the "joke" because I did not know anything about the drugs she was using? 

Is it a good thing that her plan appears to work in the end? That she "slept" her way out of it? I don't know.

Maybe the point of the book for me is to take a closer look at myself, because I at times found it hard to have compassion for the main protagonist, who was clearly suffering, but instead was frustrated with her and her numbness and her having given herself up and how she treats other people. For someone who has had to deal with depression herself that is almost shocking. 

I did also not at all notice that the main character is in fact unnamed, I read it somewhere after I finished it. I find that astonishing. It did not bother me whatsoever that she didn't have a name, I didn't even know.

...
Edit: After Giving it some thought–is the protagonist something of a modern day Daisy Buchanan?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Cancer, Suicide, Excrement, and Vomit

Minor: Abortion

motleybooksandtea's review against another edition

challenging tense

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Cancer, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

taylorgc721's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

a_random_fangirl's review against another edition

reflective 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Cancer

Minor: Abortion

hclin's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal cruelty

amsswim's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad 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

3.75

This was the first book of her that I have read, and I think this author probably one you just like or don't. I enjoyed this read but could see where people have issues with it.

If you're into reading about completely unhinged women doing unhinged and borderline horrifying things, do read. If you're worried definitely leaf through the trigger warnings to get an idea at least. 

I think I'll read from this author again, would recommend to some (definitely not everyone)!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Sexual content, Abortion, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Violence, Excrement, Medical content, Abortion, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, and Classism

_bailey_reads_'s review against another edition

dark reflective tense 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

2.75

The writing style was good. The actual plot of the book was interesting from the stand point of observing what not to do regarding mental health. 

However this book is not in any way a good book to read for life advice or for finding a good way to cope with depression. Think of this book and everything the MC does as everything not to do. The MC is deeply troubled and in need of actual help from an actual professional which she does not get. I was very concerned with the ending of the book because it is not at all accurate to the realities of mental health and life itself. She doesn’t actually deal with anything she struggles with, she just avoids it… which is not possible in reality. 

PSA to everyone reading this: medication is not a problem solver and will not fix you. You cannot run away from your problems, that includes sleeping. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

drybay's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Self harm, Death of parent, and Alcohol