Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Let Me in by John Ajvide Lindqvist

6 reviews

athompson0429's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

This is a great coming-of-age horror that has a lot of interesting characters.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Gore, Pedophilia, and Toxic relationship

elvenpanther's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

Lindqvist managed to write this in such a way, that despite being uncomfortable at how twisted much of this novel was, I was throughly engrossed and could not put it down. I enjoyed how he wove the story through the view points of several members of the community and how he tied all of those "individual" narratives together.
This novel was dark, and gritty, and explored so much more than "monster" trope. In a way, it focused on how monstrous people could be. How sometimes it's not what goes bump in the night that you need to fear, but instead your neighbor or your classmate. It explored broken people, broken families and broken children and their struggle to navigate the world when they feel alone.
I didn't really know what to expect when starting this, and yes some parts of the novel made me squirm, but overall I enjoyed it. I had watched the Swedish film adaptation after and I will say I appreciate how much more in depth the book went. It made for a much more complex and visceral narrative than the movie.
*As a warning, the book does strongly contain the topic of pedophilia*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Murder, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, and Medical trauma

Minor: Animal death

jaedia's review against another edition

Did not enjoy

the paedophile perspective. At all. Why? I'm sure something comes of it later but ew

. The writing style was fine enough to read but the story itself just felt too mundane and I couldn't get interested. None of the characters were interesting to me, or loveable. Even when

the vampire attacks somebody

there was no excitement there, I didn't feel gripped, no suspense. I was just bored. Decided not to waste my time further. It may well pick up but many books to read, little time!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Murder, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, and Fatphobia

lizardgod's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Homophobia, Murder, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Trafficking, Drug abuse, and Transphobia

vixenreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Despite being overstuffed, it has a lot of bite, and pathos. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Classism, Death, Pedophilia, Torture, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Outing

Moderate: Animal death, Alcoholism, Cursing, Homophobia, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Abandonment, Excrement, Racial slurs, and Vomit

There is a graphic scene of a young boy being castrated, and the pedophilia in the book is quite prevalent. The gender identity in the book will bring up a lot of issues in terms of representation of trans youth. Plus there is some scenes featuring unintentional urination.

bodiesinbooks's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Car accident, Domestic abuse, and Drug use