Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

43 reviews

whatathymeitwas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a really wonderful experience. When I first started it, I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it, as everything is a bit befuddled and there's a reasonably large cast of characters involved, but it's so well written I was immersed and attached in no time.

This reminded me a bit of the play/TV film "An Inspector Calls." Not necessarily for any real direct reason other than they're both examples of very unique ways to approach a mystery, but that alone must have made the connection. I'll be very excited to watch this whenever they finally get it in series form.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Murder, Grief, Gun violence, Rape, and Stalking

silver_lining_in_a_book's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual violence, Drug use, Rape, Suicide, and Self harm

Minor: Infidelity, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Addiction

elle_dee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Bullying, Child death, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Stalking, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Rape, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Classism, Self harm, Sexual harassment, and Torture

leahrosiee's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Most of this book would have been 2 stars for how I struggled through it but it was unlike any other mystery I’ve experienced so it gains another star. Maybe in a different mood or time I would have liked it better. The way the story spirals in on itself is insane and I truly would have never seen the ending coming, which is frustrating and great at the same time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Sexism, Addiction, Blood, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Alcohol, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide attempt, and Child death

Moderate: Infidelity, Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Torture

Minor: Abandonment and Self harm

dustghosts's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

+ Beautiful turns of phrase, figurative language, the kind of writing that makes me want to also sit down and write
+ Satisfyingly cyclical, repetitive but full of just the right twists and turns that you want to keep reading to figure out what the exact same scene and setup looks like through a different set of eyes
+ Super exciting exploration and expansion of how to use POV to invoke emotion, tell a thrilling story, and string everything together
+ A very charming cast of absolutely unbearable little bastards; feels like you gain an evolving and empathetic understanding of each character with each new day

+ Despite the author’s sort of muddled/overly neutral comments in his own commentary, I find the book to be a pretty compelling allegory for and argument against the carceral state. The text itself feels distinctly poised against both the current prison system and the future potential for “mental imprisonment”.

- Some really egregious fatphobia that feels uncomfortable and gross to read, especially for a contemporary book. Not really skippable, either— while this character has other values to the narrative, fatness is treated as a debilitating moral failing reflective of character.
- So extremely British—
- Near the end, starts to feel as though things are being wrapped up too quickly, not quite as immersive as the rest of the book.

For example, I think we’re supposed to interpret Annabelle before Blackheath as as heinous as Daniel, whose villainy we’ve watched develop and worsen throughout the week. But whoever she was before feels too simply and vaguely summarized in comparison to the blunt relaying of Daniels crimes throughout the rest of the book. I wish we could spend a little more time remembering WITH Aiden, though I suppose the pacing might suffer for that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide attempt, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Suicide, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Body horror, Addiction, Classism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexism, Rape, Vomit, Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

nicoles_reading_corner's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Stalking, Violence, Torture, Sexual harassment, and Drug use

maddox22's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, and Torture

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

alexandrine_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I don't think I've read this kind of book this good in a while, wow. This is such a unique concept, I've never seen anything like this. I loved every part of it. I do suggest reading this a bit quicker than me (took me 3 months), because there are so many characters and sub-plots I kept forgetting them the next time I picked up the book again and it confused me a bit...!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Self harm

fgmetzger's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

Is this story really hard to put down? Yes. A page turner? Absolutely.
But it’s also extremely fatphobic. There is just zero need for that.
I have a hard time reading men, and this book was just bursting with toxic masculinity.
I finished this one pretty fast, because I had to know what would happen. But I’m just left frustrated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

alomie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

This was an Agatha Christie novel with a slight twist, which I realised would be the twist far earlier than the author intended.

I did not solve the murder part of it though so it was a win for the author there. 

It wasnt so much that it was a bad book, I just didn't connect with it, I felt it quite drawn out, it definitely isn't my usual kind of book, but I am glad I tried it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Self harm, and Rape

Minor: Rape