Reviews tagging 'Gore'

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

59 reviews

augustinedreams's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

ahhhreadzombiez's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

This book hmm… I got through it very fast (in two days, really) but does that mean I enjoyed it? Well, not exactly. I didn’t enjoy the characters; it’s very hard to read a book when you don’t like a single character in it. And I can’t help but feel I continued to read it because I wanted to just see it through to the end and hope, just really hope that the characters would have some type of development that would make them just a tad bit enjoyable. It was just a tragic story with what felt like no real point. I wish I liked this more, but it just… didn’t do it for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Pedophilia and Rape

nindie's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, and Vomit

nefariousbee's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

this book could have been good if it went deeper into everyone's psyches. as it is now, it's just average which is honestly a shame. also the author seems not to realize how not good of a person the main character is which doesn't help its case

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, and Classism

abitbetterbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Listened to this in one sitting today during a long car ride and it was the perfect thing to keep me entertained! Fast-paced, disturbing, oddly funny, and absolutely fascinating characters make this an incredible read. I love the way this story was woven together with threads from the past and present, and illustrated the reality of hard decisions, family bonds, and what we’re willing to do for those we love. 

Plus, that ending! Whew! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Body shaming and Fatphobia

megb64's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

glutenfreemaggie's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was so fascinating. Also, FUCK TADE.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism

drunk_cowgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

Okay so I read this book a couple months ago so it's not as fresh in my mind. But i actually liked this book a lot more than i initially thought i would and i definitely liked it more and more as the plot went on. i enjoy reading books about unhinged, murderous, unlikeable MAIN characters. So i was a bit hesitant going into this book since it's written from the perspective of her sister who is a goody-two-shoes and not from the perspective of the serial killer sister. 

I honestly didn't love this book when i started it. I almost dnf'd it so many times. But i'm really glad i didn't, because it definitely got way better. At first, the narrator just comes off so jealous and bitter that her sister is hotter and cooler than her and how swooned after she is. She's extremely bitter about how she's had to look after her sister her whole life because she's older and clean up her messes and lives in the shadows of her younger, more conventionally attractive sister. I don't have siblings, i'm an only child, so i didn't relate to this at all and it just came off super miserable and lame how much time she spent complaining about her sister. I also just don't understand or relate to the ugly duckling trope. because of this, i wanted to put it down so bad. i was like, "damn, so your sister is hot and cool and killing wack ass abusive ass men and you're hating on her for it? that's so lame! if you're so mad about it, then just stop helping her??"

HOWEVER, i'm REALLY glad i kept reading this book, because the more the plot unfolds, you can actually see how the serial killer sister is actually a horrible person and a liar and manipulator. I was rooting for her in the beginning and then as the story went on, I definitely was not. It picked up a lot the second half of the book and i was pleasantly surprised! 

this book definitely critiques family roles and sibling relationships. which wasn't something i related to but by the end of the book i definitely appreciated the insight and perspective as someone who is an only child. 

I really enjoyed how this novel critiqued beauty standards and how people who are more conventionally attractive get away with a lot more. there's a quote i really liked in the book where the author says "people always conflate beauty with goodness." 

i also found it interesting how we learn more about the two sisters childhood with their abusive father and emotionally neglectful mother. we get to see how both of their lives took two completely different routes due to the differences in their age even though they experienced the same trauma. 

but my absolute favorite part of this book was how it was written. a lot of the chapters are simply a page or two long and they are literally poetry. i've never read a novel written like this before. as a poet myself, this was super refreshing and beautifully executed. I found myself yearning for more books written in this style. 

the only reason i'm not giving it 5 stars is because it starts off kind of slow and was hard to get into and because i felt like the end didn't really have a solid conclusion. i felt like i wanted more from the ending. i'm not gonna spoil the ending but you'll see what i mean. it just kinda ended with no solid character development from anyone in the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Pedophilia

rowanelisa's review against another edition

dark funny 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

maddiearthur's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent