Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Witch Elm by Tana French

30 reviews

te_ss_i's review against another edition

mysterious 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Cancer, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Grief, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Murder, Self harm, Terminal illness, Rape, Bullying, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Death, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Sexual violence

katyallred's review against another edition

This was just taking wayyy too long to get to the mystery part of the story. It's usually right out of the gate with her other novels, but I was like, SIX HOURS in and we still hadn't gotten to the skull under the tree mentioned in the plot summary. It just spent absolutely ages beating the point to death about the main character's struggles to recover from his injuries and wrestling with the grief/rage/fear of possibly being permanently disabled. A relevant plot point, obviously, but it was just the focus for too long and I lost interest. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

corncake's review against another edition

mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

2.75

Excellent characterization, but the pacing of this book is painfully slow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Medical content, Cancer, Cursing, Grief, Alcohol, and Blood

Minor: Self harm, Vomit, Misogyny, and Homophobia

optimet's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Very dark.  No happy ending. Would not reread but it was fascinating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

jenn_o_3's review

dark mysterious slow-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

2.0

This author is gifted at describing things in beautiful, sometime poetic ways. Even with that gift, a good editor could have culled 100 pages from this easily. And nothing would have been lost. 

In terms of the mystery, I didn’t find it difficult at all the figure out the killer. The only real question was whether they had help or not and that did keep me guessing. 

But the end?? 

Almost everything after the reveal of the murderer could have been cut. The fist fight? The mental hospital? Who cares?? Why? It added absolutely nothing.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Stalking, and Sexual assault

jenniferpalmblad's review against another edition

dark 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

surefinewhatever_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Thanks, I hated it.

Let me start with the one redeeming quality of this book, Tana French can write a damn house! Just like the home in The Likeness, I could picture the Ivy House perfectly! It was cozy (until it wasn’t) and atmospheric and just so vibrantly written. 

But that skill is not enough to save this book. Not only is every single character (except Hugo, whom I felt affection for and wanted to see more of) unlikeable, but our protagonist is the *most* unlikeable of the bunch. Seriously. Irredeemably so. I guessed the killer prior to the reveal, but that’s not saying a whole lot as this book is SLOW. And lastly, though frankly most importantly, this book is ableist and fatphobic as FUCK. Like, jarringly so. I felt like I was constantly being pulled out of the story because I was taken aback by the ableist comments. Bad bad bad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Drug use, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Fatphobia

kathleentcarroll's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

Another great read from Tana French. I liked that this story was told from the perspective of a suspect rather than a detective, like most of French’s other books. I think the plot was lacking in a cathartic resolution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

zalouis's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, and Violence

hnrrouse's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Slooooooow start

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Violence