Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

32 reviews

alexandrabelze's review against another edition

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? Yes

3.0

okay. when i first finished this book, i didn’t really care for it. i didn’t not like it, but i initially found it a little boring. i’ve had time to let it marinate, and i am finally aware of just how crazy this novel is. the whole thing is just this poor old lady (vesta) driving herself absolutely mad. 85% of this novel takes place inside of vesta’s head. most of the things that “happen” in this book don’t even happen! she’s just making shit up!!! and the ending. wtf?! great use of an unreliable narrator.

ngl the ending had me giggling. it also COMPLETELY caught me off guard. and wtf was up with charlie at the end?? i wish we got some sort of explanation on that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death

Moderate: Murder and Cancer

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Alcohol, and Animal death

abbyb23's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Fatphobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Rape

ella1212's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

Vesta is so unhinged sometimes in a toxic way and sometimes in a non-toxic way. Mostly in a toxic way

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

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

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

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

lauraspeechly's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-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? Yes

4.5

I know that lots of people didn't love this book but I did. I liked it better than Eileen and MYORAR. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Misogyny

Minor: Murder and Xenophobia

erinbarton's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Mental illness

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Murder

casey_adrian's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Misogyny, and Fatphobia

Minor: Murder