Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

23 reviews

aemowers's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Blood, and Sexual assault

Minor: Homophobia and Transphobia

amandabethrose's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

This was an intense book. The time jump was an absolutely fascinating twist on a serial killer, and I was kept very intrigued. I do wish that Kirby herself hadn't felt so flat, and that we had been given a little more history with Harper. How did he get to that place where he would accept the House and the key?  Be warned, the murders are very graphic and I did have a very hard time reading the chapter featuring Kirby's murder attempt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Violence, and Animal cruelty

jamiejanae_6's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Abortion, Alcohol, Grief, Animal cruelty, Classism, Cursing, Gore, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Stalking, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

sunnysiding's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

A book centered on the victims of serial killings rather than idolizing the killer. Exciting, heart wrenching, achingly human.

Lost a star for the bizarre subplot of Dan being in love with Kirby. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Animal cruelty, Gore, Suicide, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Stalking

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Abortion, Sexual content, Medical content, Mental illness, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy, Homophobia, Transphobia, Domestic abuse, Deadnaming, Rape, and Sexual harassment

There is an entire chapter that heavily features animal injury/death:

Kirby's dog is killed, brutally, trying to protect her

. It's pretty expected for a book about serial killing but it is visceral and detailed. There are several other depictions of animal cruelty, injury, and death.

typedtruths's review

I picked this up on a whim. The writing is awful and I’m already bored. Not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Injury/Injury detail

hillbilly_heroine's review

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

The proportions of this book are all wrong. It’s 75% graphic descriptions of brutal murder from the POV of a serial killer and 25% everything else: plot and character development, how the mystery is solved, everything. You get more insight into the mind of the serial killer than the other main characters, and in theory that would be interesting but there’s a reason there’s a well-known profile of serial killers: they’re all kind of similar. He’s not an interesting guy, he’s just horrible, and we follow his POV for most of the book. 

Also, the first Malcolm chapter is the whitest white lady author writing that ever existed. It is shoot-me-directly-into-the-sun cringe that reads like the author has never met or spoken to a Black person. I see on the back of the book that she’s an American living in South Africa. I have questions. 

If you like thrillers, you won’t like this because the pace is actually slowed down because of how much time we spend murdering characters we don’t know and haven’t met. If you like time travel, you probably also won’t like this because it’s just a random plot device. If you like detailed descriptions of murdered women from the POV of a serial killer, and you wish books had significantly more of this, I guess this is for you? I honestly don’t know who this is for.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, and Animal death

Moderate: Racism, Transphobia, and Dysphoria

chloemakesbooks's review

mysterious 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

1.0

Poorly written, flat characters, and a total lack of suspense or fear- just sadness. A good editor should have seen where the real book was and refocused the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Ableism, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Sexual content

bookish_arcadia's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

purecomedy'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Stalking, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content, Racism, and Transphobia

Minor: Abortion and Drug abuse

ashley_elizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

My expectations were quite low for this considering the degree of negative reviews I've seen. Color me surprised! While the pace was on the slower side for the majority of the book, I still found the story engaging and interesting enough to keep me invested. I was tasting flavors of Joe Hill's "NOS4A2" with the House and some characteristics of both Harper and Kirby, which I mean as a compliment as I absolutely adore Joe Hill.

I found myself a bit confused by Harper and how he came to be This Person doing These Things. We get a decent bit of his history and how he came to be in the House, but it doesn't quite feel like enough. I understand from the blurb by the author that the story was meant to focus much more on the victims rather than the perpetrator, but I think I would have liked a bit more of this backstory/character development. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Drug use, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Transphobia and Homophobia