Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

265 reviews

maiahhtratchh's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book kept me on the edge of the seat and was very mysterious giving nothing away even at the end. It has a great commentary on American culture including purity culture, religion, and girlhood all experienced through the voyeuristic lens of the male gaze, specifically teenage boys. How they viewed the Lisbon girls and their inability to truly see them or want to actively help them had my skin crawling which  is the point. The Lisbon girls exist on page only as two dimensional characters who, unbeknownst to the boys, are crying out for help. However these nuances play out do subtly on the page that only a true understanding of the Lisbon girls can be understood if you were, at  one point, a Lisbon girl. After reading I scoured the internet for essays, videos, and fanfics that were able to put my scrambled and shocked thoughts into a concise narrative but I have only found small pieces spread throughout it. If you were a big English Literature kid who loves to look for the deeper meanings this book is for you. A point was taken off for unnecessary racism and racial slurs which took me out of the story immensely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Child death, Suicide attempt, Death, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Grief, Toxic relationship, and Confinement

Minor: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Emotional abuse

gritsgritsgrits's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual content

creatureof_nature's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death, Child death, and Suicide

Moderate: Grief, Sexual harassment, and Self harm

srslyconfused's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Very interesting and sad. Seems like a very socially critical and male heavy view on young women and girls and theirs struggles. Don’t know if this was intentional or not, but is sadly a accurate description of the real world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Grief, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child death, Death, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

kcmg710's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Blood, Mental illness, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Cursing, and Vomit

lolipopowiec's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Self harm, and Suicide

lucym1502's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Maybe I'm not intelligent enough but this did nothing for me until

the final four girls die

. That description was magnetic and harrowing, but I found large parts of the story forgettable, and I was so excited to read it as well. Maybe I lack the nuance to understand its beauty properly...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

elenamolinariiiii's review against another edition

3.5

I watched the movie before reading the book and I have to say in retrospective it is extremely faithful to it. MANY things gave me the ick here, but many others were really good. some people will complain about the male gaze in this, as I did for the movie, but tbh isn't that kind of the point? I think we should also allow for men to explain their life experience without being judgmental straight away, because in the book I actually didn't feel like the narrator "mansplained" the Lisbon girls' behaviour, but that he was just trying to make sense of the pain it caused to him, which contributes to keeping the girls in an aura of mystery... idk, I'll be thinking about this for a while but anyways the prose was very good imo, and I think I liked this better than the movie

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Domestic abuse

arielrhenee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Self harm

mandalily's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Self harm, Confinement, Child abuse, Suicide, and Toxic relationship