Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Devil House by John Darnielle

46 reviews

cataquack's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

I'm gonna be thinking about this one for a while, I think.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

kthealey's review

dark mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Child death, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Drug abuse

Minor: Sexism, Vomit, and Xenophobia

mikkitooloud's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Alcoholism

Minor: Drug use

rystonlentil43's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I started reading in digital format and I'd already passed the section in the different font before switching to the paperback, but it does look like it would've been pretty hard to make out in that font. That aside, its presence exemplifies what I love about this book (and is crucial to the themes!). There's such a variety of textures working together to build strong, interesting ideas. (I see from the other reviews that this was misleadingly marketed as horror, like Universal Harvester... I wish that would stop happening. It's sad that people are disappointed by these great books because they were expecting something different.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Gore

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

waffel113's review

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

“Once I started messing with the details it felt like it wouldn’t matter if I moved a few of the principal players around. Nobody cares about the actual details of anything, they just want the feeling they get when the story punches their buttons.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Gore

Moderate: Domestic abuse

jessiejonesbentley's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Not horror but not bad. Decent writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Blood, Child abuse, Sexual content, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Violence

readwithzelda's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Violence, Murder, and Domestic abuse

yrioona's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

Weighed down a bit by metanarrative, deliberate repetition, and high concept touches (really could've done without the barely-relevant medieval interlude in fake gothic font), and treading some overly familiar ground as far as JD's themes and settings, but still really compelling and complex. It has a skillfully done puzzle-box/labyrinth structure that leads you through without spelling things out too much, teasing a straightforward narrative about troubled teens resorting to violence, but then gradually zooming out to reveal  
a kind of class-conscious existential horror story about what happens when you apply compassion and imagination to the true crime genre. I picked this up because I'm a mountain goats fan and WIWV was pretty ok, but this is a huge step up from WIWV and it made me look forward to what's next. Pretty incredible what this guy can do! Wish he would write some more interesting women characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

m_e_ruzak's review

dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Bullying, and Drug use

jo_schmo's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Minor: Forced institutionalization