Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock

39 reviews

marisabenn's review

dark 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

I highly suggest this book to anyone who likes Cormac McCarthy. More quotation marks, less adjectives. I flew through this book and was constantly wondering what was coming next. It follows several people, but blends them so well and ties their stories together with a grisly red bow. They are (mostly all) flawed, awful, horrible people and yet I found myself wanting to know what despicable thing they would do next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Incest and Homophobia

damolaarin's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Incest, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

acintiabarreto's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Torture, Suicide, Self harm, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Homophobia and Racism

Minor: Rape

karidearie's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

sharbison's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Medical trauma

Minor: Cancer, Excrement, Domestic abuse, Vomit, and Pregnancy

carlyisnotliterate's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Racial slurs, and Vomit

bytheriver's review against another edition

challenging dark 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: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

escapinginpaper's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Abortion, Excrement, Homophobia, Kidnapping, and Sexual content

Minor: Incest and War

atgcbooks23's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Murder

zacharie's review

dark 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

4.0

This book is hyper-violent with characters so messed up it feels wrong to say that I liked reading it. It very much triggered that part of your brain that can’t look away from a tragedy, because no matter how uncomfortable the book made me, I kept coming back to it and wanting to know what fucked up thing would happen next. 

As a person who is usually drawn to loveable and relatable characters, it was interesting to find myself invested in a cast of characters I absolutely despise. Normally a story with unlikeable characters like this would make me want to stop reading and pick up something else, but for this book it was the complete opposite. This amplified the experience in a way, because after having followed this group of repulsive characters, the ending felt rewarding in a way I haven’t really experienced before in a mix of relief and satisfaction. 

I don’t think I’ll ever be able recommend this book to anyone with the heaping amount of content warnings, but I’m glad I got myself through this unsettling experience. I’ll probably be coming back to it during future spooky seasons too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Minor: Homophobia