Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

3 reviews

valjeanval's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

Beukes is a great writer and thorough researcher who created a cast of interesting, powerful, complicated women throughout time. It just sucks that most of them are murder victims. I think I understand conceptually her desire to give voice and depth to the as she calls them “pretty corpses” of crime thrillers, and she does that, but the genre itself is still limiting. The murderer is misogyny person, literally killing women who would otherwise change the world. It’s a solid metaphor, but a frustrating read.

Also, while the time travel element is cool, the paradoxes always hurt my brain a bit. The writing was good enough that my suspension of disbelief was only strained rather than snapping.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicide, Antisemitism, Outing, and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, and Abortion

maggiejean's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Suicide, Blood, and Stalking

Minor: Animal death, Suicide, and War

sunnysiding's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

A book centered on the victims of serial killings rather than idolizing the killer. Exciting, heart wrenching, achingly human.

Lost a star for the bizarre subplot of Dan being in love with Kirby. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, and Alcohol

Minor: Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Transphobia, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

There is an entire chapter that heavily features animal injury/death:

Kirby's dog is killed, brutally, trying to protect her

. It's pretty expected for a book about serial killing but it is visceral and detailed. There are several other depictions of animal cruelty, injury, and death.