Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy

25 reviews

brioches22's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Child abuse, Cursing, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Self harm, Bullying, Cannibalism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

katiebella_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

5⭐️

Trigger warnings ⚠️ 
Animal abuse
Dog murder
Murder
Mutilation 
Blood

Mary is about to be 50, and strange things are happening to her. She is seeing things she shouldn't be seeing. Things that are disturbing. Everyone says it's "textbook " the change. Mary knows it's not. She knows she will have to return to her childhood home to learn the truth.

" I am just a story written in present tense. We all are. We are never finished. "

My Thoughts 

This book is disgusting in all the best ways. Not gag me gross but disturbing and vile. The story seeped into my marrow like an infection.

What hit me the hardest was realizing the whole book takes place in the span of 13 days. April 9th - 20th. It feels like a lot longer. If you're not paying attention to the chapters' headings, you might think it was months, the way the darkness crawls around you.

Wicker Man vibes. Purge vibes. Possession and cult vibes. All the horror vibes I could possibly want wrapped up in one amazing book. Dark atmosphere cruelly contrasts the light that Mary desperately wishes she lived in.

Mary is so well written. It's not often a man can write a woman this well. Especially a woman in the throws of perimenopause. This author has! I could feel and relate to her pain and frustration. She was real in all the best and worst ways. Multidimensional and not glossed over in femal perfection, a lot of authors try to portray.

Not only did he write one female character with depth and realism, but he also wrote many. In all walks of life. Teenage angst to elderly stubbornness. The attributes of the fairer sex are not lost on him. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Blood, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Gore, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Murder, and Violence

kchen138's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Long but so worth it. Incredibly dark, gory, insightful, sensitive, witty, and relatable.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Murder, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Gore, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Torture, Death, Medical trauma, Violence, Dysphoria, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

kaitlouise94's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Gore, Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Bullying, Body shaming, Body horror, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Blood

staci_stasis's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was innovative and fun as hell. Bit lengthy around the middle part though. The narration by Susan Bennett fucking slaps, I can really recommend getting the audiobook 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Gore, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Body horror

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Bullying

odd_wan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I strongly advise to read the after thought of the author after you read the story. It makes the story so much more completed in my opinion. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Death, Body horror, Misogyny, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Gore, Murder, Blood, Animal death, Toxic friendship, and Body shaming

story_of_steph's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I’m not sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t that. Weird. I didn’t love it but didn’t hate it either.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Torture

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Excrement, and Mass/school shootings

brittanysreadingcorner's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

5.0

AUDIOBOOK :5 stars for Mary: An Awakening of terror. Check trigger warnings before taking this ride. This book definitely takes serial unaliver to the next level. This is full of dark horror. 
This book follows Mary who goes to her hometown to take care of her aunt (I think). Though Mary has had some concerns of her mental state she goes to make some money. So many events take place to lead up to the best plot twist! While reading this I even found myself laughing at some parts. The audiobook was greatly executed! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Bullying, Child death, Physical abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Body shaming, and Blood

sonygaystation's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Holy motherfucking shit. This book hit exactly right in all the places it wanted to hit. I was NOT expecting a cis man to be able to do this kind of exploration of female rage and gender but holy shit. I’m in love with this book. I had so much fun through all the nasty humans and gore, and I LOVED Mary and her aunt even though her aunt is the absolute worst human and Mary herself needs some work. But damn y’all Nat Cassidy did the thing because despite being 20 years younger than the MC, I related so much to her. Also it just makes my year when I can find genuine horror that’s not only good but ACTUALLY has in depth commentary and metaphors and doesn’t lazily rely on mental illness and its bastardization. I loved this to pieces. Seriously. I’m about to tell everyone I know to pick this up, Listen to this via audiobook cuz omg Susan Bennett does not hold back!!!!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Bullying, Body horror, Death, Dysphoria, Violence, Animal death, Gore, Sexism, Gaslighting, and Blood

Moderate: Torture, Confinement, Drug use, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Cursing

Minor: Racism, Child death, Fatphobia, Vomit, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Deportation

_meeg's review against another edition

NGL dude this one was just too brutal for me. Felt too unwell to justify continuing reading after the cactus scene.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Sexism, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Confinement, Grief, Suicide, Death, Murder, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Drug use, Addiction, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Cursing, Excrement, Gore, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts