Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Five Survive by Holly Jackson

51 reviews

rxchxel's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I’ve put off reading this book for a while but ended up finishing it in one day because I was so hooked! Plot twists galore and so many times my breath was held in anticipation! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Gun violence, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

I

olliejp2004's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gun violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, Blood, Classism, and Gore

Moderate: Toxic relationship

aklovekorn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Murder, Blood, Violence, and Toxic friendship

beightmana's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Bullying, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Violence, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, and Grief

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Medical trauma, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Classism, Blood, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, and Mass/school shootings

emmaroe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Violence

anjh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

oh my god. wow. how do i put all my thoughts about this book into one review. the amount of times i was holding my breath or about to beat up oliver (fuck oliver) through the page or getting literal shivers down my spine. this thriller was THRILLING let me tell you, holly jackson has some way of keeping you guessing and keeping you on the edge of your seat wondering “then who is it?? what?? how??” and suddenly a few pages down the track everything makes sense and slots into place and you beat yourself up for not realising sooner how holly tricked you and played with your mind through her writing, to make you believe and empathise with characters that were actually plotting violence and silently hating characters that were completely innocent. there were a few points in this book - particularly towards the start - where i almost felt like the writing style was similar to that of a poorly written wattpad fanfiction just because of the way holly has chosen to repeat seemingly useless details over and over and over again and i was thinking “why on earth is this relevant??” but thinking about it in more detail and reading online analyses of this book it makes sense that red is so detail focused and obsessive likely as a result of trauma. 

i love red so much and can relate to her a lot and i hate oliver. i really hate oliver. fuck oliver. oliver sucks. the light blue tabs are “fuck oliver” tabs. oh and the letter at the end oh my god holly jackson will be paying for my therapy after this. ***PLS CHECK THE CONTENT WARNINGS IF UR THINKING OF READING!!***

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gun violence, Bullying, Body horror, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Medical content, Murder, Gun violence, Physical abuse, and Alcoholism

Minor: Cancer and Confinement

funshine3's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

It was a quick and easy read. I didn't see the twist coming at the end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Medical content, Blood, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

tabea1409's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Gore, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

dielilla's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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: Death, Violence, Gun violence, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Police brutality

Minor: Classism

mxdegroot's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I love it when the plot twists don't stop coming once they've started.

I've seen a lot of people talk about how they're bothered by the lack of multiple perspectives, since this is a thriller, but it did not bother me at all. I think it would have revealed too much about

Arthur's family's

plan, and let's be real, I don't think any of us want to get a closer look inside Oliver's brain than we already did.

Red is a wonderfully written character. Grief about a family member's death and the struggle to find closure about it because you don't know what happened, and the things you do don't make sense, really messes with your brain, and that's evident in Red.

You'd think that a book of which the majority takes place within the same square hundred feet would get bored, but it didn't. The tension that comes with being confined with six people in such a small space (with an active shooter watching  at all times) built up bit by bit and had a perfect climax.

To make a long story short, Jackson wrote great characters and a great story, with a gripping climax and a satisfying, albeit open, ending.

And, yes, I'm going to say it: even though bullying is not a justification for murder,

Oliver's

death was very satisfying.

January 6th, 2024 - January 7th, 2024.

“What if I said you were the right people, in the right place at exactly the right time.” 

"This is turning into Lord of the Fucking Flies."

" 'Can we please remember who the real enemy is?’ he pleaded, voice breaking. ‘The guy outside with the fucking rifle. Not any of us.' "

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Blood, Gaslighting, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcohol, Confinement, Death of parent, and Police brutality