Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Bluebeard's Castle by Anna Biller

16 reviews

samanthaleereads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

s_armstrong's review

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

1.25

good god what was that

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

yourque's review

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.5

A gothic satire! The story is dripping in so much dramatic irony that it's almost painful. 

Everything, especially the references, was very on the nose, basically hitting you over the head with a silver candelabra. 

*queues up Rebecca immediately*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction

brettashleyyy's review

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

1.5

….Manderfield? Really?
This did not work. At all. Should’ve stayed as a screenplay. It read like bad fanfiction and made my eyeballs hurt from how much I was rolling them. The FMC sucks.  The constant references to its source material was beating me over the head to a bloody pulp. The overexplaining/telling not showing of basic feminist concepts, overuse of blatantly bland similes, and the overuse of the word “lugubrious” reeks of amateur writing. I could tell Anna Biller wanted to capture the melodrama and camp of the giallo, Hitchcock, pulp fiction of the 60s/70s wrapped in this not-at-all feminist retelling of the classic fairytale. The thing is, trying to capture that essence on the page is not possible, and trying to make a pastiche of someone as iconic as Hitchcock was going to inevitably be a failure. Even Pitbull knew that. I’ve never tried to power through an audiobook so quickly in my life for the sheer joy of being done with this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Murder, and Gaslighting

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

Moderate: Infidelity

carleesue's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Murder

josephine_amm's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

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

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

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