Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

45 reviews

brittaanson's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I wanted to love this book, and the beginning really sucked me in with the mystery. The structure is ambitious and intriguing, but by the end, I was confused and unsatisfied. Partly due to the nature of the plot, there wasn’t any deep character development, and as the truth of what was going on was revealed, I disliked the story more and more. The ending has so many twists that didn’t feel completely earned, and by that point I didn’t care about any of the characters. The rules, ethics, and motivations of those driving the story remain ill-defined to me. I didn’t enjoy the violence and aggressive fat phobia in the book. However, I will concede that the cleverness of the overall concept may be enough for someone else to find more satisfaction in this read than I did. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Murder, Body horror, Fatphobia, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Ableism, and Torture

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Stalking and Rape

meganm1587's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Animal death and Drug abuse

Minor: Ableism

mladd28's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Ableism

Moderate: Rape

bimblebop's review against another edition

The plot is actually quite interesting but the way the narrator describes the state of being switched into a fat disabled body is so nauseating, I just couldn't keep crawling through those chapters. 

At some point my disgust for the blatant fatphobia far outweighed my interest in how the story unravels because it truly felt never-ending, especially as that part of the book was much longer (and descriptive) than any previous body the narrator had been switched into. It's like the character couldn't be given the grace of being anything other than abhorrently fat and old - and by consequence, a repulsive person to be around by virtue of the fact that he is so fat, that's all there is to him. None of the other characters are even interesting enough for me to be attached to them either.  

Maybe I'll come back to this book at some point to find out how it ends, but right now I just don't feel like I should have to force myself to read a book I'm dreading.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Ableism

Moderate: Violence

wickedgrumpy's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

To relate it to a movie mash up, take Being John Malkovich and pair it with Knives Out with a dash of unexplained world building sci-fi time loop situation. 

Premise was quite good, but the execution suffered.  It dragged in the middle and the wrap up at the end wasn’t very satisfying because it left so many questions unanswered.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Misogyny, Murder, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Torture, Gore, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Self harm, Cursing, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Bullying, and Alcoholism

ambarleti's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Drug use, Ableism, Suicide, Fatphobia, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Child abuse

itzbrianna's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle had a great idea behind this book. Having to solve a murder that reoccurs the same day while the protagonist is in the body of a different host is a great and interesting idea for a book. The plot sounded fun which is why I jumped at the chance to read this. However, despite wanting to like this book, the very first chapter just didn’t hook me. 

It was hard to care about any of the characters and especially the protagonist. I was only interested in the main mystery so anything that ventured off of it seemed pointless. And this book was way longer than it needed to be.

I enjoy long books that have strong character development and interesting storylines to keep you hooked. But this novel wasn’t that. The writing made it hard for me to stay engaged. Not to mention the blatant ableism and fatphobic commentary throughout the book. 

The concept as a whole would’ve been great had it not been for those things. It’s an ok novel and if you enjoy drawn out mysteries with this kind of writing style you’d enjoy this. I, however, did not. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Ableism

Moderate: Rape, Sexual harassment, and Murder

jess2obsess's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Body shaming

Minor: Ableism

retswerb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

Definitely kept me engaged, although a bit longer than I often prefer. A bit hard to follow in places in the audiobook, which is common for mysteries. Certainly inventive and creative.

Worth checking content warnings on this one if you’re sensitive. There are multiple descriptions of murder from the perspective of the victim(s) which were pretty brutal. Also worth noting that the narrator’s response to the experience of being fat is pretty over the top.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Ableism, Fatphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

ajparmentier's review

Genuinely, I'm not sure I've ever read a book as hatefully fatphobic and ableist as this book. Every single iota of attention paid to fat characters is dripping with disgust and hate. And that's saying a lot.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Ableism