Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock

21 reviews

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, War, Cancer, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Misogyny, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Stalking, Violence, Vomit, Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Excrement, Pedophilia, and Racial slurs

outofthepinksky's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

3.5

Very fast-paced and entertaining.  However, the story was deeply flawed for me by the sheer amount of homophobia and fatphobia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Suicide, Death of parent, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Police brutality, Ableism, Drug use, Rape, Blood, Animal death, Body shaming, Addiction, Cursing, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

Minor: Grief, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Excrement

octopusarms's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Body horror, Grief, Violence, Cursing, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Murder, Death of parent, and Infidelity

mxpringle's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

2.75

One day maybe I will find a horror novel that doesn't include queer people and women without demonizing and/or victimizing them. I thought it was solidly enjoyable in terms of the writing, but I feel like a lot of the plot and topics explored are tropes that have been overdone, such as Southern small town murders, hitchhikers, etc., though these were intermingled with a few really cool new ideas. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Blood, Murder, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Torture, Sexual harassment, Rape, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gaslighting, Grief, Gore, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Alcohol, Body horror, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Moderate: Pregnancy and Abandonment

Minor: Vomit

rojo25's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Rape

reggiethebird's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-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

4.0

I cannot imagine someone reading this book and thinking "You know what, I want people to experience all this on the big screen." This is one of the most grimy books I've ever read, like "I want to take a shower after reading it" type filthy. I'm not sure there is a good person in all 261 pages who isn't either raped, killed, raped then killed, or killed then raped. This is a book where a bunch of bad people do bad things to other bad people for a whole 3 or 4 intersecting plot arcs. If that's the type of story you like, go for it. If you have any triggers at all, probably skip this one. It's a very ugly tale.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Grief, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Blood, Violence, Rape, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Misogyny, Transphobia, Torture, Abandonment, Infidelity, Body shaming, Cursing, Bullying, Homophobia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Ableism

Minor: Cancer, Gaslighting, War, Dementia, Stalking, Car accident, Slavery, and Vomit

bumblebroxbeeblebooks's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

My favorite book of September 2022. Everything about this book was so messed up and wrong but it was so entertaining to read. I haven't listened to an audiobook or read something this fast in a long time. I'm really excited to watch this movie on Netflix.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

There is a ton of trigger warners for this novel so take that into consideration before reading this.

mxyfrzn's review

dark tense slow-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

3.5

I've heard this called rural noir and I think that fits. It's incredibly well crafted, and the kind of horror that's that drudging, sick to your stomach kind of dread. Can't say I enjoyed myself, but if you're looking for something that feels like a mix of No Country for Old Men and Season 1 of True Detective, this is a great pick.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Vomit, Rape, Trafficking, Torture, Infidelity, Gun violence, Grief, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Death of parent, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Alcohol

augustinedreams's review against another edition

This book isn't dark, tense, or mysterious; it's slow and boring. And leaves me with a feeling of disgust; why is every woman in this book called slurs & participates in prostitution? There is no reason for it. This book has one to many problematic trigger warning to be redeemable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Grief, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Vomit, and Violence

bidufta's review

dark funny sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Child abuse, Cursing, Murder, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol