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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Racial slurs, Racism
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Not quite the horror-fest I was expecting. I'm stuck halfway between, wow, kids are the absolute worst and do you really expect me to believe the last half of this book?!
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Rape, Torture
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Sexual harassment
challenging
dark
I read this book as a 13 year old while babysitting by myself in a little house in the middle of an orchard in British Columbia - bad idea! I don't think that I'll ever forget this book. I haven't 35 years later. Maybe this book is one of the reasons I've never wanted children or even liked them that much? Because they can be so horribly cruel & selfish? I know that I'm surprised I ever babysat again after reading it.
It's no fault of Johnson's that I read The Girl Next Door first (the same real-life event -- the torture-murder of Sylvia Likens -- inspired that book and this one), but I did, and it's one of the best books I've ever read. Going in to Let's Go Play at the Adams', I had a feeling I wasn't going to like it as much, simply because I couldn't see it would be as good as Ketchum's dark masterpiece.
Spoiler alert: I didn't. Ketchum's book is still far superior.
Still, LGPatA has its redeeming qualities, and is worth reading if that kind of story interests you. Where TGND is a graphic look at the characters and the events of the story, LGPatA is more psychological. Johnson wants to expose the kinds of people who do these kinds of things, giving us long stretches of insight into how they think, and why. TGND has that, as well, but there's something more clinical in the way Johnson approaches the story than the way Ketchum does. Ultimately, Ketchum's take on events feels more like a story.
Spoiler alert: I didn't. Ketchum's book is still far superior.
Still, LGPatA has its redeeming qualities, and is worth reading if that kind of story interests you. Where TGND is a graphic look at the characters and the events of the story, LGPatA is more psychological. Johnson wants to expose the kinds of people who do these kinds of things, giving us long stretches of insight into how they think, and why. TGND has that, as well, but there's something more clinical in the way Johnson approaches the story than the way Ketchum does. Ultimately, Ketchum's take on events feels more like a story.
couldnt finish. what kind of adult person gets physically restrained and outsmarted by two CHILDREN