Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock

43 reviews

chandle5's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Pedophilia, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

lolzzloz's review against another edition

dark sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, and Violence

sphealrical's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Abortion and Transphobia

kylajaynebooks's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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? Yes

1.5

I only finished it so I can justify watching the movie but oh my god I didn’t like it 😂

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit

katherineclimber's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

Um so I think I like thrillers now?? This book was so amazing, I don't have words to express how much I loved it. It was creepy and all the characters were messed up and everyone had their own secrets, but I think that's what made it so interesting and compelling to read. Even though it was confusing at times, it was fun to follow so many different storylines at once because I knew they were eventually all going to converge, and trust me when they did I was literally silent screaming, um yea. This is definitely one of the best, or even the best book I've read all year. For me, one way I know a book is incredible is how it will make me physically react. For example, this book made me gasp many-o-times, it made my jaw  d r o p  every time something big happened (which was a lot), I almost cried, and I slammed the book down and stared at the ceiling more than once. This book is also super dark, and there a lot of people who are just insane, and you know, murder people. But let me tell you, when one of the worst people in the book got murdered, I was very happy, revenge is very sweet. Anyways, like I said, this book has a lot of different characters with weird families so I would 10/10 recommend making a character chart to keep track of it all. So now that I've figured out that I love books like this, I don't know how I am going to be able to find any that live up to this one. Oh, also I watched the movie after I finished reading the book, and it was almost just as good as the book, even though the ending was a little wack. So now that's also one of my favorite movies. Oh and lastly I did listen to this as an audiobook while I read along in the physical book, which was super awesome because all the southern accents in the audiobook really help you become enveloped in the story. So basically what I learned from this absolute masterpiece of a book is that I like books that are "dark and twisty" to quote my mom, and also, very oddly specific but, I like books with small-towns where everyone is messed up and people are getting killed( see "The Lost causes of Bleak Creek" and "Sharp Objects") </spoiler?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Abortion, Terminal illness, and Stalking

zoewrath's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Abortion, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Vomit

osehernand's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

 El hilo conductor de esta historia es una promesa incumplida, esa promesa es el origen de todas las tragedias que ocurren a lo largo de la historia. Me parece curioso cómo desde el inicio el narrador nos deja en claro lo que está por venir en los siguientes capítulos: "Emma thought about the promise she’d been unable to keep. She’d been dreading a violent accident, or some horrible disease, but this was good news." (p. 34).

Ahora, hay un par de cosas que me resultaron incómodas.

1. La mirada racista. Me inclino a pensar que se debe a la época en la que se desarrolla la obra, aún así es difícil digerir esas ideas.
2. Misoginia y machismo. Hay dos tipos de mujeres en esta historia: las madres de familia y las putas. Las madres de familia son respetables y, en rara ocasión, se hace algún comentario despectivo o malicioso hacia ellas. En cambio, las otras mujeres, las putas, las zorras, las prostitutas, las que engañan a sus maridos (tal como la mujer del abogado Dunlap) no reciben más que descripciones obscenas y desagradables, son vistas como meros objetos para satisfacer y servir al género masculino y no puedo, simplemente, pasarlo por alto.
3. Las escenas de violación y pedofilia. En especial, una escena donde Carl vende a su esposa, Sandy, con unos hombres para filmar una película pornográfica. También las partes donde se describe cómo piensa el reverendo Preston Teagardin y cómo se aprovecha de la inocencia de jovencitas para conseguir quitarles la virginidad y acostarse con ellas hasta aburrirse o encontrar a otra chica “más apetecible”.

Los personajes están constituidos y desarrollados para que causen desagrado, asco e incomodidad, en especial los masculinos; el único que puede salvarse es Arvin Russell. La manera en que el autor consigue hilar las historias de todos los personajes, de tal manera que sus vidas terminan entrecruzándose, de una forma u otra, está muy bien llevado. No se siente forzado, ni sobra ningún elemento. Todo está conectado y bien ejecutado. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Rape

catsy2022's review

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Rating: A

"Are you alright?" asked Mary.
"Sure," he said. "Why you ask that?" 
"Were you praying?" 
"I was," he said, nodding his head. "Praying for the right time." 

The Devil all the Time is a southern gothic novel following a group of people across 20ish years around southern America, mostly Ohio. The characters are just trying to make their way and survive. You can feel the book steeped in the tense atmosphere of the time, hot and dreary, everyone knows everyone. I loved the atmosphere. The feeling of life being blown out like a match, gone in a heartbeat. The scenes were tense, some were poignant, some were wise. 

The movie follows a different narrative structure than the novel, but it's still decent. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, and Vomit

infte's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

The scariest part of this book is that if you told me that everything that happened in it was real I would honestly believe you

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Grief, Infidelity, and Racial slurs

Minor: Cursing, Excrement, and Vomit

beckym's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide, Sexual content, and Pedophilia

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death