Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

33 reviews

texashippie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Grief, and Emotional abuse

joensign's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Fatphobia, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

_jaybee_'s review against another edition

dark funny sad slow-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

5.0

If you're looking for a creepy/dark plot-driven mystery this is *not it* and absolutely DO NOT ENGAGE lol. This is 100% character driven and written in the stream-of-conciousness style. The narrator is completely unreliable, objectively a pretty terrible person (fatphobic, classist, neglectful), and as we find out later, traumatized as well.

The first 60-70% read like a dark satire on the power of the stories we tell ourselves. The last bit documented the unraveling of a mind from within that very mind. By the end, any clarity you thought you had between reality and imagination is very fuzzy. 

I've seen other reviews that interpreted the book as a bleak meditation on loneliness, and that is definitely a theme, just not the one that jumped out at me the most. It's incredibly well-written and thought provoking, but I can see how it would annoy readers if it's not their thing or if they expected something different. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia

Moderate: Classism, Animal cruelty, and Emotional abuse

oliviah1111's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

this book is very very slow paced. from what i understand, it was only over the span of 2-3 days. i enjoyed it either way, but there are some weird elements i didnt like.

there was random hints of fatphobia, and what kind of felt like fetishization of foreign women. this may be because of the narrator being an older woman, but it seemed to be the writers opinion sneaking through especially with the weird comments about fat people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Xenophobia, Cancer, Fatphobia, Animal death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Classism, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Body shaming, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abortion, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Alcohol

grunbean's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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

3.0

I love Mosfegh’s writing, and this is by no means a bad book. I can only describe is lacking in a way, but I can’t put my figure on what it is exactly. 

Definitely for you if you like mystery, as every part of it feels like a mystery in some way. It just seems to lack something that ties it all together, I finished it feeling confused.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Cursing, Abortion, Death, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

parsnipsnap's review

dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Excrement, Blood, Domestic abuse, and Animal cruelty

natalia_booksss's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Animal death, Blood, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Infidelity, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Murder, Grief, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, and Cancer

beanwa's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Wow. This book is actually a bit different from Moshfegh's other work in that Vesta is actually quite sympathetic imo. And, this is the only one of her books that's made me cry - I had to pace myself with the last chapter because otherwise it would have been too much. I feel like this story was a really accurate depiction of life post-abusive relationship, and Vesta's loneliness and slow descent into madness was beautifully written and heart wrenching. I just loved it - but fucking ouch man.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Cancer and Emotional abuse

kelleywithanextrae's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, and Child death

robi_locksley's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Animal death, Grief, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Body shaming, Cancer, Classism, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, and Emotional abuse