Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Sisters by Daisy Johnson

10 reviews

horizonous'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

4.5

If I had to summarize this story with one word I would choose sticky. I don't even know what else I should say about this atmospheric, kind of disturbing fever dream like story other than I need to read more by Daisy Johnson.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Grief, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Blood, Mental illness, Child death, Drug use, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, and Medical content

◦ Alcohol = Underage drinking
◦ Mental illness = Depression
◦ Sexual violence = Revenge porn

james1star's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

2.25

I didn’t like this book. It started out okayish, definitely a bit *too* descriptive - not in the transportive way but more like “oh more details… yay… ugh” - but I guess this densness did die down as the story unfolded. It then just went into too much backstory plot kinda and about the sisters relationship, not the ‘sinister unfolding(s)’ with a lot less emphasis on the noises, lights flickering, lack of sleep and endless dreams which I was promised in the blurb. I just don’t feel like it gave what was stated. Not to spoil the plot at all but the main twist I did kind of predict as the story was developing so I was glad to get it right but also like I wasn’t shocked either. 

The writing was okay I guess but I did feel like it changed quite a bit with lots of small sentences then very long ones. It was readable and followed but kind of irritating I guess. There was no quotation marks which does irk me but at least speech is on separate lines. The characters are rather unlikable and unrealistic with not that much logic in my opinion. Towards the end the plot seemed a bit rushed with lots of small paragraphs that were somewhat confusing but I dunno, I really didn’t like how it wrapped up. 

Quick plot summary: two sisters and their mum move to their aunt’s rental house which is kinda run down, the mum is depressed and absent, sisters have a ‘weird’ relationship with September controlling basically all of July’s life, they explore the house and area, think back to their childhood and ‘the incident’ and Yhh, y’ll be getting no more out of me. Not that I would really recommend you read it but if you do… you get what I mean. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Mental illness, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Blood, and Sexual content

Minor: Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

aliced's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Body horror

khakipantsofsex's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Child death

Moderate: Domestic abuse

aplambeck's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Self harm, Child death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Death

raphynette's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Domestic abuse

court_grubb's review

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Child death

Minor: Violence and Bullying

aeoliver's review

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

5.0

A lot of readers might not have the same experience with this book because of an aversion to unreliable narrators, unmet haunted house expectations, and that’s valid. For me, though, this book absolutely wrecked me — heartbreaking, poignant, horrifying, all of the things I love. Experiences might vary, but it got me good. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

Death of a teenager

bitesizedbeet's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

This book is a hard one for me to review, but I will say to prepare yourself mentally because it’s dark and emotional.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death and Grief

Minor: Self harm, Blood, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

ellik6612's review against another edition

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

5.0

Dark, good plot development. Creepy but not too scary. Reader get very wrapped up in the world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Mental illness

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse