Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Death in Her Hands

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

20 reviews

pkc's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

This was such a bizarre book and I thiiiiink I get what it was going for. However, if you’re picking it up and thinking “ooh look a small murder mystery” it’s much more and I don’t know if I’d consider it a spoiler to say there’s no neat resolution. There are a ton of hints that suggest what has likely happened but no resolution per se. Vesta as a main character was fascinating but -

her actions strike me as being the actions of someone who is aging and trying to make sense of a traumatic life with a loathsome man as her mind fragments from age and trauma

This is the third Otessa Moshfegh book I’ve read and as with her previous books, it was wholly unlike anything else I’ve read.

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britts_booknook's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

5.0

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ae_young's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

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oliviah1111's review against another edition

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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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isaarusilor's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-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

3.0

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natalia_booksss's review against another edition

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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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erinbarton's review

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

5.0

first tried to read this back in dec 2021, got 50 pages in and gave up because i was bored and worried about going into a reading slump and not reaching my reading goal for the year

over a year later, i gave this another go after reading the rest of moshfegh’s work and enjoying all of them, especially eileen. the timing for giving this another go was just right - i read the whole book in one day and so didn’t mind the slow pace and just allowed myself to get swept up in the character’s inner monologue and imagined mystery.

this was such an interesting read with so many clues peppered throughout. the main character was such an unreliable narrator, while following her “investigation” you also come across more questions of your own, the main one being — how much of this is actually real?

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