Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Himmel und Hölle by Malorie Blackman

5 reviews

bloodmaarked's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

1.5

honey what in the hell was this? this is not the book i remember reading as a kid

✧ full review on my tumblr ✧

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Racism, Classism, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Death, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Pregnancy, Rape, Violence, Gun violence, Mental illness, Alcohol, Bullying, Sexual assault, Suicide, Child abuse, Grief, and Police brutality

Minor: Cursing, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Blood, and Colonisation

whitenoise's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring relaxing sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racism, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Abortion, Suicide, and Bullying

Moderate: Bullying, Grief, Hate crime, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Classism, and Violence

Minor: Rape, Police brutality, Slavery, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Vomit

epellicci's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

I can see where the praise for this book comes from. As a way to introduce a younger audience to racism, privilege and unjust societal structures, it is straight to the point. Potentially a revelation, happening among a setting with characters who still have problems a younger audience can relate to, like homework and complicated feelings for your friends. However, I did not enjoy the book. 

Every relationship was so aggressive, often times to the point of physical violence. There wasn't a single healthy, consistently loving family or friendship. Combined with a plot which never let up on anyone, it made for unlikable characters. I didn't believe in  the main couples on again/off again romance, which lacked any tenderness. Blackman consistently gave us the narrative that they hated one another, their "love" felt based entirely on guilt and familiarity. On top of this, I felt that in an attempt to make the message apparent to the young teen audience, all the nuance had been stripped from the plot. There was no subtlety, which I found killed the atmosphere. While I can totally appreciate what it was trying to do, it fell really flat for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Bullying, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Racism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, and Murder

danileah07's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Kidnapping, and Death

Moderate: Abortion, Suicide, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Physical abuse

Minor: Suicide attempt

kqlon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence