Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Bluebeard's Castle by Anna Biller

14 reviews

beccaand's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual violence, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Infidelity

eena's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

2.5

“Where is the wife’s side of the story in these novels? We only have the husband’s side. The husband who wishes to discard an inconvenient wife.”

This book was truly engaging and it was genuinely a good modern gothic “romance/horror” type of novel but I have to give it a 2.5/5 stars. I read this because I watched The Love Witch couple of months back and saw that Anna Biller also wrote a book, I liked the first part the most and found myself kind of getting tired towards the end. 

Part of me also felt like it was a great decision to have a third person pov because you will be able to study yourself too and how you react with everything that’s happening. But yeah, the writing wasn’t phenomenal but I’m glad that I still read and finished it, it could have been better but it’s okay. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Murder

elizalk's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

3.0

Anna Biller's style is so distinct, I didn't love it at first, but picturing it in my mind in the same style as her movie the love witch helped the book grow on me. desperately sad and accurate depiction of the justifications many women make to stay with (evil) men. the story felt like promising young women if it were written better, still left me a bit unsatisfied

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Violence, Drug abuse, Animal cruelty, Death, Animal death, Eating disorder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexism, Vomit, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Rape, Stalking, Suicide, Torture, and Confinement

gal_fieri's review

dark slow-paced

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

1.0

don’t be taken in by the cover art-it’s the only good part of this book. truly just so bad & tedious to read. the constant immediate flip flopping is so tiring. biller clearly thinks she’s making a real statement or being subversive or something but it’s just really atrocious writing & not subversive at all. at least if it had been a movie it would have been pretty to look at but since it’s a book even that forgiveness cannot be given.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Domestic abuse

marinalikeaboatyard's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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

emerald fennell would direct the shit out of this 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Colonisation, Torture, Addiction, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Blood, Body shaming, Confinement, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Violence

thisischels's review

dark mysterious fast-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

2.5

Really wanted to love this one, but the style just wasn’t for me. Execution fell flat, and I felt myself wanting to just get through it to have it finished. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infidelity, Classism, Death of parent, Murder, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

i_would_prefer_not_to's review

dark mysterious medium-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

2.5

I can't tell if it's written badly as pastiche or if it's just badly written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Rape, and Violence

mhantzsch's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

This was a really interesting read and knowing that Anna Biller is a filmmaker, you can really see how that influences her writing style. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Torture, Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexual content, Murder, Blood, Domestic abuse, Addiction, and Infidelity

Minor: Animal death

lateromantic's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

A slow start - if you're a fan of Biller's films you'll like it, the prose has that same stilted, photographic quality as her scripts, and she drops in many references and aesthetic tidbits. I wouldn't call it feminist so much as female-gaze - there is rage but no righteousness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Murder, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Death, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Classism, Misogyny, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

sabrinahughes's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Classism