Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

74 reviews

breauseph's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Sexism, Racism, Racial slurs, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Classism, Xenophobia, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Animal death

thura's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

3.5

Violence lurks in every phrase of this story, from distilled fear to the main character making hersef smaller and smaller to a scene of full on physical abuse. A harrowing and difficult read for me, triggering past experiences of abuse. I couldn’t stop reading it, but I’m so glas I’m done with it. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have read it. 

Very interesting - and confronting - to read other reviews praising this book as a somewhat positive read about nature and coming-of-age. I have a feeling such visceral, conflicting responses were in the author’s intention though, so I do praise her writing. Perhaps these reflect that the story is not as far fetched as I would like to believe. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Animal death

kiddocut's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Fantastic quick read about a boiling family drama, framed in a setting that calls back to class, gender and academic background-and how that affects our ability to interpret  the world both in a literal and emotional sense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Classism, Child abuse, Sexism, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Bullying, Body shaming, Racism, Blood, Torture, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Sexual content, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Cultural appropriation

There is a use of a slide one time-to describe a character’s inability or stubbornness to adapt his language to modern terminology in a historical context. I didn’t anticipate it and I wish there was someone who mentioned it. It’s a story heavily about a fractured and demanding father whose daughter is just discovering herself. It is well written and I think all TW that I applied are accurate.

bossybookworm345's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Gaslighting, Death, Emotional abuse, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Vomit

audreyxine's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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

5.0

This book was so weird. I loved it. It won't be for everyone, but it was for me. The writing style was confusing and the ending was anitclimactic, but those seem so intentional I can't give this book less than 5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Torture, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Alcohol, Death, and Cursing

Minor: Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, and Homophobia

alina_ni's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Misogyny, Violence, Animal death, and Blood

ixris's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Short. Finished in one day, but the dialogue is not set off my punctuation and all runs in the same paragraph as narrative text so it is important to pay attention to how the sentences are structured. 

A 17 year old girl and her parents attend an experimental anthropology course for the summer. Things happen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Animal death, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexism, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Lesbophobia

Minor: Vomit

The domestic abuse and misogyny is a major plot theme in the book. The death and dismemberment of animals for the encampments food is a clear symbol for the way the men perceive the women at the height of the plot.

allisonmeyette's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

I think this is a book I will have to read again and again. Stunning writing, and over too quickly. The pace of the book is very slow up until the last 15-20 pages. It's one of those books where if you read it too quickly and don't digest it as you go, you don't get everything out of it (which is what I'm afraid I did). It's also quite creepy while really immersing you in the world that the Professor is trying to create. Please see content warnings too, as there are a LOT of possibly triggering themes in the book and may not be for everyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal cruelty, Violence, Bullying, Animal death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Misogyny, Murder, and Physical abuse

Minor: Cancer, War, Classism, and Vomit

greenwillow77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Sarah Moss is particularly concerned with how the echoes of the past are heard in the now, & this book is an excellent illustration of how she goes about making that into a compelling story. Creating a creeping sense of unease & ratcheting tension that wouldn’t be out of place in an Ari Aster film, the story of Sil & the experimental archeology project rattles along at a brisk lick, simmering in the summer heat & Sil’s father’s temper. 

There is plenty to unpack in this book- class, education, gender roles, family, teenage anxiety, the power structures of abuse- & it crams in to a story told in under 150 pages. I wouldn’t say that I enjoyed this book, but it did compel me to finish & it will stay with me for a while yet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Physical abuse, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, and Classism

jamarie's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Animal death