Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

14 reviews

headlessphilosopher's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Animal cruelty

wrenwolfz's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

so fucking in love with this book. everything within itself. erotica, suspense and betrayal, love and hate and intimacy and violence. the familiarity of the short list of locations we move between throughout the story, and the newness each time we return to them. i am obsessed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

erynlasbelin's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

There aren't enough stars for this book. The writing is gorgeous: the historical elements are well done, the atmosphere is vivid, and the two protagonists have such distinct voices. All the primary characters are complex, realistic, frustrating, sympathetic - even the villains. And the twists! I can't remember the last time a novel kept me on the edge of my seat like this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Blood, Confinement, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Lesbophobia, Outing, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Grief, Ableism, Child death, and Sexual content

Minor: Body shaming, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, and Homophobia

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Medical content, Medical trauma, Torture, Violence, Death, Murder, Gaslighting, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, and Ableism

Moderate: Self harm, Blood, Sexual content, Lesbophobia, Grief, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia

Minor: Child death, Animal death, Eating disorder, Incest, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Racial slurs, and Racism

outerscout's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.25

found it slow to get started but once it did...absolutely bonkers. the final part, especially the first ~60 pages, was difficult to get through & i wish we had

more of maud and susan together before the ending

but i understand why this is the case. will be thinking about this book for a long time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Murder, Alcohol, Mental illness, Child death, Death, and Sexual content

directorpurry's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Racial slurs

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Child death

runefactories's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The first two parts were great and the story is well-written, but the third part dragged and I didn’t like the ending. I think this book would have benefitted from being significantly shorter. I watched The Handmaiden before reading this and strongly prefer its ending and third part compared to the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Torture

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide

clovelatte's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Ableism, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Pregnancy, Addiction, Confinement, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Sexism, Violence, and Abandonment

naiu_cs's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

It was quite exciting, even though it sometimes seemed to be dragged on for longer than was really necessary for the plot or the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cursing, Death, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Alcohol, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Torture

jenwool's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The use of unreliable first-person narrator is masterful. The narration builds the story in a way that draws you in and paints a raw picture of the setting of London, and out in the country where the middle portion takes place. In spite of myself I was strung along for the ride, brought to each emotion that Waters intended me to feel as I went along. In spite of myself and my first impressions of them, I fell in love with both Susan and Maud.

The twists were crafted beautifully, with enough poeticism and foreshadowing that an attentive reader could catch on, but several of them took me by surprise even still.

Spoilers in the Content Warnings but very serious Content Warnings for this book, please take heed.

CW for child abuse, animal abuse, violence against women, the treatment of mental illness in victorian england, casual racism against rromani, and the implication of sexual thoughts about young girls. There is not any actual sexual assault, but it is very creepy. All of these save for the use of g**** referring to rromani are treated as the horrible things they are by the narrative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Violence, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Racial slurs