Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Obsession by Jesse Q. Sutanto

18 reviews

lovely___'s review

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Gaslighting, Death, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Violence

taylorsevalia's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

For most of the book, I was expecting to learn more about Sophie. Although Sophie still feels like a mystery to me, Delilah’s story made up for it. I really enjoyed Delilah’s character besides the parts in library, but then, the ending had me wanting more!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Murder, and Cursing

Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, and Addiction

Minor: Eating disorder, Violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, Racism, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Animal death

content warning for child death towards the end of the book

beyondapage's review

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Vomit

isabelsdigest's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

In the spirit of honesty and professionalism, I will say that I could have put this book down and stopped reading the moment I noticed I disliked it. It is my fault but I personally don't like not finishing books because they might get better … this one didn't. 

The Obsession is a  YA Thriller novel that is marketed for fans of YOU (the Netflix series and books) with a promising: “Boy Meets Girl. Boy Stalks Girl. Girl Gets Revenge.”

First of all, I am not in the target demographic and I’ve read enough thrillers to not get easily engrossed in the typical plots. However, if the series of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder taught me anything, is that it is possible to enjoy a YA thriller series as an adult and it does not have to be unconvincing.

So, I want to take my personal stakes out of the review, and I will use  “Boy Meets Girl. Boy Stalks Girl. Girl Gets Revenge” to go over the flaws in this novel. Boy meets girl is the typical trope for romance, therefore, I expected a deconstruction of romance into a thriller. The revenge aspect is perpetuated by the girl, but ‘the plot twists’ surrounding her undermines the revenge (as it is against two, not just ‘the boy’) and concludes with a conversation about being prey or predator by nature. 

The characters are bland. The girl is meant to be the main character that goes through a lot of development, but there was no moment when I cared about her as a person. It is clear she is a player on the board. The illusion of characters as actual people might not be what everyone seeks, but for me, it made me indifferent towards her and towards the guy. 

The backdrop is unimportant, yet it is so overstated that there is a sequel coming that continues in the same privileged school. Like the equally disappointing They Wish They Were Us, this novel wants you to think it will be a mix of  Gossip Girl and You, with rich private school kids and delusional dangerous people. Again, The Obsession does not deliver and the wealth is just another cliché that becomes irrelevant after mentioning they live in a dorm situation because it is convenient for the plot and the ‘plot twist’. 

This brings me to the heart of thrillers. They are meant to induce you into an anxious state that makes you be at the edge of your seat when the plot twists just keep surprising you. In this novel, the plot twists are predictable, and that is the worst thing you can have when reading/writing a thriller. On top of that underwhelming plot, I think it was a mistake to have both points of view the whole novel. As readers, we are never surprised or buying into the delusions because we have the immediate perspective of the other. You’s success is due to Joe as an unreliable -but charismatic- narrator. Gone Girl’s major moment is when the reader breaks away from the story that Amy built, and we realize that what we assumed was real was all fabricated by her to make us sympathetic. I feel this novel could have been better if it would have used this resource to surprise us.  

I wish you do not read this novel, but if you do, I guess I should give some positive comments. It is easy to read, fast-paced, and with an ‘empowering’ ending, but mostly it is meh and you can do so much better with your reading time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Murder, Drug use, Violence, and Death of parent

I do not recommend

kassidypf13's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

theloveofwordss's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Racial slurs

Minor: Suicide and Suicide attempt

fandomckb's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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

1.5

Honestly, after reading the summary I was expecting so much more than I got. The story moved so fast at times I thought the character was hallucinating or imagining it. Finally, the story just moved way too fast. There was no breaking up talking with text, they spent way too many pages of just dialogue or just internal thoughts and whenever it was mixed, it was hard to follow because it was too fast. The characters were extremely dark, and made it hard to relate to them. The choices they made didn't make sense and the 'plot twists' felt more twisted and dark than actually enjoyable. If you're at all interested in reading for the world being built and not just the characters find another book. All I got was 'fancy boarding school'. 


<spoliers> She kills her mom's boyfriend after fantasizing about hurting him or fighting back or something so I thought that was the same thing? And the 'she was the drug dealer's thing was bull. There was almost nothing leading to that and it felt almost forced. Finally, the ending where she kills Logan was one of the only things that sort of made sense, but again, it only took like 2 pages to kill him. <spoilers>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Drug abuse

Minor: Racism and Suicide attempt

larabezzina's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood