Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

34 reviews

pchamblee's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This is the first audiobook I’ve tried and made it all the way through, so I have to give major credit to Candace Thaxton and the rest of the narration team for pulling it off so well. Considering the psychological suspense factor, I’ll forever be curious what it would have been like to experience it the first time in print (possibly would have been even more mind-boggling)—but, I thoroughly enjoyed the delivery of the narration.

This is a very eerie and disturbing story. It’s obvious early on that there’s mystery involved and there will be a twist at the end, but I don’t think any reader can be fully prepared for what comes (despite all the hints woven in). Even though I typically go for comfort fiction with happily ever afters, I love a good psychological thriller story and this book does it really well. It’s unique in the way it balances a meandering intellectual commentary with a thoroughly terrifying cautionary tale.

I’ve heard the Netflix film adaptation isn’t 100% true to the book and many fans say it doesn’t do it justice, but once I get a chance I’m gonna watch it out of curiously and just because I liked this story so much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Blood, Death, Mental illness, and Self harm

Minor: Alcohol, Medical content, Violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

1.0

I’m actually not sure we all read the same book. Y’all liked that lame ass ending? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, and Mental illness

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Medical content

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

thebookpaiges'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Stalking, Suicide, Death, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Death of parent

princess_marie's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Animal death and Blood

Minor: Death of parent and Sexual content

britainmic's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

It had a bit of a slow start to me -which made me think I’d dislike this book-, but once it actually started to get a little creepy my interest piqued greatly and I wanted to read the book all the way through. The book greatly unnerved me and gave me that underlying sense of anxiety, which I guess is a good thing to do if you’re a horror book. It actually made me kind of scared at certain points, which -for me- is uncommon in horror books, even if I think they’re really good. It was the kind of feeling where I planned to watch something funny after I finished the book before I went to bed. I never knew where the book was headed. It was kind of confusing, but not in the sense of. I didn’t understand what was going on. I just had no idea where it would lead.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Death of parent, Blood, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

torigroves47's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I can’t believe how fast I got through this book. I read it last year, I think, but I didn’t remember much, and I just rewatched the movie so I thought I should read it again.
It’s a lot, and it’s left me feeling a lot of emotions, but it’s also somehow comforting to read.

To paraphrase Chelsea Rebecca’s take (from the Dead Meat Podcast), I find it surprisingly life-affirming. Even though Jake/the janitor made the choice he did, he still was a nice person and had people who cared about him and noticed he was gone. Everyone has their own rich personal world, and even if you don’t see it, someone cares about you and would notice your absence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Animal death, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Death of parent

As you can probably tell from the title, this book is about

suicide. There’s a lot of suicidal ideation, Nd the main character ends up committing suicide at the end.

There’s also a story that Jake tells on his family’s farm about a pig that keeps staying in one corner, but when his dad finally moves it,

has maggots all over its stomach. It’s “being eaten from the inside out,” so they have to put it down.

The situation is a metaphor, but it doesn’t make the imagery less upsetting.

maddie7217's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Death of parent

sargasso_c's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.5

This is the only novel ever that I have finished, and then reread from page one. Definitely worth the read and I look forward to reading more works by this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Grief, Blood, Death of parent, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

literatureleaf's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.5

Age: 15+

 

Reading time: 3 days

 

Difficulty level: 1.5/5

 

Rating: 4.5/5

 

 

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid follows our nameless protagonist and her boyfriend Jake as they embark on a road trip to have dinner with Jake’s parents. Plagued by thoughts of ending the relationship, she spends the car ride mulling over how it got to this point, and wondering if this is how it was always meant to be.

 

Meeting his family does not quell her hesitations, and the journey back home begins in a very similar manner to the trip there. However, after an unplanned stop at the local high school Jake attended as a teenager, things begin to go downhill in a way that neither the characters themselves nor the reader could have predicted.

 

A genuine literary thriller, I’m Thinking of Ending Things intricately weaves suspense and in-depth, authentic character study together in a way that has never been done before. Without holding anything back, Reid puts a new spin on the concept of a plot twist and utilizes it in a way that can be described as nothing short of poetic.

 

Atmosphere reigns supreme in this novel. Built up slowly and steadily, through scarce but vivid depictions of a desolate, snowy setting brimming with despair, and an unfiltered look at the flitting, unfettered thoughts and observations of the main protagonist, consistent, permeating feelings of dread and unease slowly creep up as the plot advances.

 

Written in a deceptively simple, choppy manner, I’m Thinking of Ending Things will sneak up and grab you in a chokehold when you’re least expecting it. As the tale unfolds, and little glimpses of something that is deeply wrong just beneath the surface of what appears to be a straightforward, even somewhat boring, trip between a couple on the brink of a breakup emerge, the reader is left deeply unsettled, wondering what it is that they are missing.

 

Flaws are few and far between, but so much of the story takes place within the protagonist’s mind, that at times it can be a bit stifling. Inner monologues fill much of the story, only broken up intermittently with the stark, vivid imagery mentioned earlier, and although they are incredibly well written, feeling stuck in the narrator’s head is not an uncommon feeling.

 

Invoking feelings of longing, despair, unease, and grief for the characters, I’m Thinking of Ending Things reads and feels like a beautiful punch to the gut that will leave you simultaneously longing for more and begging for it to be over. A devastatingly believable account of a life filled with pain, loneliness, and resentment, I’m Thinking of Ending Things will live on in the minds of those who have read it for months after the final page is read and the book itself is closed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, Suicide, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Blood, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Gore, Stalking, Violence, and Body horror

Minor: Cursing, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Alcohol

splatteredbastard's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Sexual content