Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Die Einladung

Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Die Einladung by Monika Baark, Emma Cline

53 reviews

jullietteh's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I was so entranced by this book. Alex moved throughout the beaches of Long Island as a ghost. Her ego and entitlement is often intolerable. She’s quite awful and it’s hard to find any redeeming qualities about her.

SPOILERS BELOW:
It’s clear that she is incredible lost. She never reveals her true identity to other characters and the narrator never reveals it to us. Clearly, she is some kind of kleptomaniac who feeds off of taking what doesn’t belong to her.

At times I questioned if she might be a psychopath. She so easily blends into these random people’s lives and then leaves them in ruin. She’s like an orphan and a parasite; an expert at taking advantage of other people. Nothing she gets is ever earned.

The way she uses the teenager was probably the most disturbing and fascinating relationship dynamic in the book. It made me so interested in each of their own ideas of love and how those understandings came to be based on other relationships in their lives. I’m left wondering if Alex has ever really truly experienced love? At one point she says she loves Simon, but it isn’t convincing. Her life isn’t living—it’s survival. She is always a “guest,” leeching off of other people’s lives.

The ending made me angry. I wanted more. I think I wanted a confrontation between her and Simon. I wanted to know if Dom would find her. I wanted to know if Jack was okay. I feel that the car crash is everything coming to a head. Her not being able to keep up the lies any longer. It similarly echoes the moment she almost drowns in the ocean in the beginning except she recovers. So am I supposed to assume that by the end there is nothing left of her to recover? It seems that maybe she even knows that as she tosses the phone in the trash and can’t seem to bring herself to move towards Simon.

Content Warnings

fkshg8465's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious 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

2.75

It was like the author got tired of writing and thought it would be clever to end as it did. It felt lazy more than novel. Characters were utterly pathetic, yet I failed to wrangle up even an iota of sympathy for any of them. What was the point of your book??? Nonetheless, aside from the ending, I found myself early enjoying the book.

Content Warnings

savshelfinger's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense fast-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

3.5

I really love Emma Cline’s writing; definitely a book that sucks you in. However, I think the second half had some pacing issues and the ending was disappointing. Feels almost unfinished.

Content Warnings

aseel_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-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

1.0

Not entirely sure what the point of the book was? The commentary was a bit odd/non-existent and then the plot was just nothing?

Content Warnings

ellenewt's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

1.0

Content Warnings

chinue's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

Content Warnings

smalika's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective tense slow-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

3.0

careening towards nothing. aimless, much like the narrator’s life, so i think the goal was achieved. i finished it, though, so i can’t say i didn’t enjoy something about it, but i wouldn’t reread and probably wouldn’t recommend unless you like following a character in making decisions you probably wouldn’t make, but not experience much of a conclusion.

Content Warnings