Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

79 reviews

charvermont's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

Disturbing, an unlikeable protagonist but it is interesting to see her slowly unraveling. Wished the mystery was more than just in her head but great writing nonetheless. 

Unnecessary fatphobic commentary (which is apparently Moshfegh’s thing across all her novels) 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

mindespair's review against another edition

mysterious reflective 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

2.5

overall this just dragged on way too much for me and it was a very ‘nothing happens’ kind of book. nightmare for my adhd. also so much fatphobia like girl what did i ever do to u. it was interesting enough to finish reading but i don’t think i’d recommend

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Grief, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Body shaming, Infidelity, Fatphobia, and Cancer

Minor: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Cursing, Excrement, Abortion, and Classism

the dog does indeed die after being neglected for the whole book

sophiaroesler's review against another edition

dark mysterious

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia, Animal death, Cancer, Death, and Animal cruelty

linguaphile412's review

dark mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fatphobia, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Animal death, and Excrement

Moderate: Death, Cancer, Sexual violence, and Violence

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

mahinamahina's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Death, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, and Murder

_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

kellyung's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

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