Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Dom sióstr marnotrawnych

Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Dom sióstr marnotrawnych by Krystal Sutherland

59 reviews

bookishkale's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I am not one for horror, but 'tis the season, am I right? I picked up House of Hollow on Libby this past week for a little spooky season read, and it did not disappoint! I had fun reading it!

First of all, I enjoyed all of the characters! I found them endearing, and I was desperate to know what happened to the Hollow sisters, where did they go so long ago? Vivi is a little grating at the beginning but I really enjoyed her character in contrast to Grey and Iris by the end of the book. Vivi is also queer, but it's done in a super casual way, which is nice to see every once in a while. Tyler is a highlight, and he adds a great dynamic to Vivi and Iris as they search for their sister. Iris' characterization makes so much sense. She's the youngest of three girls, the older two were rambunctious and rebellious, and in turn, Iris was quiet and well in order. She grapples with her identity vs her sisters, wanting to be like them, but also, trying to find herself. She's not naive like the book almost makes her out to be, since she is not as cool and interesting as her older sisters, but I never found her to be. She's the smartest one in the book and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this world through her eyes. Her character growth by the end was well worth it. One of the best narrators I've read in a while.

For the plot, this is where I docked points. I loved that the story was centered around the three girls and their relationship with each other. I have two older sisters, so Iris, I get you. The book does not shy away from the grotesque body horror elements that a story like this needs. I just felt the pacing was off, I don't know how to explain it. I felt like the last half of the book was fantastic, but the beginning is a little slow. I just feel like it takes too long to get where they were going and the plot suffers a bit from that. But overall, everything ties up in the end, (really well, might I add!), and that's really all that matters to me. I did predict one of the mysteries, but for the question of the Hollow girls... I wasn't expecting it, and it was really well done! I applaud the choice! I think this story could have been better if Sutherland upped the age range for this book, and just went all in, no whammies.

And I cannot end this review without gushing about the imagery! Krystal Sutherland does a fantastic job of putting you right there with Iris as she experiences these horrific events. I was obsessed with each disgusting thing that she describes. I had to gag at some points because it was so realistic. I'll be thinking about the imagery in this book for a while. The book wraps you up in this nightmare with them, as it swallows you whole.

Overall, highly recommend this book for the spooky season! I'd avoid it if you can't handle any amount of horror. I can handle some so I think this book is fine if you like to watch the occasionally scary movie with friends but don't watch anything scary by yourself. It's mostly just super creepy, but I know people can be super sensitive to things! This book does not shy away from the creep factor. Be sure to check out the rest of the trigger/content warnings for this book!!

I look forward to what Krystal Sutherland releases next!

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rebeccajost's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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modernmatilda's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

(Review from 2022)

Still the BEST book in the universe.

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(Review from 2021)
•BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR•
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Yes, I know it's May. But listen, it's going to be practically impossible for any book to just wander into my life and beat this one out. It was absolutely WILD and GORGEOUS and HAUNTING and CREEPY and PERFECT.
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First off, spooky cottagecore, twisted fairytale, unreliable protagonist is an entire vibe right now and I can't get enough. Just when I thought no book could fill the "Wink Poppy Midnight" void in my heart, here comes Iris and her sisters. How Krystal Sutherland left my head scrambling even after the book was closed is just *chef's kiss*. The characters were astonishing, the fantasy-nature fashion was mesmerizing, and the atmosphere, the ATMOSPHERE, was so good I'm in tears just thinking about it.
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Plus, is there anything more haunting and fascinating than random creepy doors in the middle of the woods?

Content Warnings

vigil's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

2.0

what a simmering disappointment. to get the positives out of the way, the atmosphere of the book is crafted masterfully. the descriptions are lush and the writing style is clear and concise while still being beautiful to read. the character work was mostly okay (except in iris, and a bit in vivi who i'll get to later) and i think grey hollow is the shining example of that. she is easily the smartest, cruelest, and most interesting character in the book, and balances it out by being incredibly compassionate, and protective of her loved ones, her sisters. for the first 200+ pages this book had me.

once

they entered the halfway place

my interest began to wane. tyler, who is so unremarkable i forgot to include him in the list of bad character work, is trapped in an evil horrid body horror filled place with iris, who has no discernible personality. i did not care about them individually and i definitely didn't care about them together. everything about this portion of the book is so repetitive that any of its earlier unnerving atmosphere immediately dissipates from how often your told how unnerving it is.

iris hollow is a shell of a character and waste of a protagonist. she has no character traits aside from being the victim in everything somehow, having her only friend be her mother, and she's not like other girls (namely her sisters, and the popular girls). she has a dissonant picture of morality, especially her own that does not line up with her actions. she chooses (along with vivi, who is barely a character as well) to condemn her elder sister grey for her actions that she a). went along with, b) actively chose to forget about in order to ignore her own culpability, c) continuously benefits from, even as the book ends. i bring this up because for a large portion of the book it had allowed space for ambiguity, power, and for girls to be unlikable, inaccessible, and the like without condemning them. which why i thought the black and white thinking on display was a waste for a book like this. especially when the main character is either culpable, or actively benefiting from the things grey has done. tossing aside your most interesting character like this was not a narrative choice that i enjoyed nor one that enriched the book imo. where's her introspection about that, or

how her not acting and allowing a TEN YEAR OLD to defend her instead of getting off her ass led to her death.

it makes the oddest choices on when to gloss over something and when to nail it down, usually in the most nonsensical ways.

it has representation, if you could even call it that. iris is bisexual, and vivi is a lesbian. there is no romantic plot for really any of the sisters, yet

iris manages to makeout with her missing-possibly dead sister's boyfriend

while vivi gets??? nothing??? the only hint we get at iris liking girls aside from a hamfisted mention of it in the narrative is a

mention of a spin the bottle game played in the past, which leads to a kiss which it almost immediately portrayed in negative light, with a girl who later becomes one of her tormentors.

all in all, this book fell off hard for me towards the end. the plot twist was ultimately unsatisfying in its execution and easily predictable. i'm more disappointed by this one than other ones, because it had excellent potential, especially for the first 200 pages. everything after that after that is just a waste. i think my largest complaint is that sutherland set up a plot that is not fully suited to the genre that it’s in (YA) and would have been a better richer the narrative as an adult or even new adult book.

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dorleness's review against another edition

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

4.5

I absolutely loved this book. I had a lot of expectations for it and I was not disappointed at all. Also, I'm a slow reader ( and I couldn't put it down, ) so I read it in 2 days. It's a good book if you want to start to read in English I think.

I saw the end coming, like I knew that it wasn't the hollow sisters, but I still wanted to understand how they did it.

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ocean's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? N/A

4.5

I love the writing of this book and the story really pulled me in. I couldn’t put it down! Loved the mysterious, gory, floral, decaying vibes. Didn’t love the way the author writes mental health issues. I looked at some of her other work and I didn't like how disability was represented either. It’s safe to say this author prefers to use disability and mental health issues as thematic elements to add to the story, rather than actual representation.

Content Warnings