Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

43 reviews

54bookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Islamophobia, and Religious bigotry

automatic_rae's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Creepy, unsettling, atmospheric. Dark and upsetting.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Vomit, Abandonment, and Alcohol

sbjuliana's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Blood

itspanicszn's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

It was…fine? I thought it would be scary but it fell flat on that front for me. I’m willing to give some benefit of the doubt because it is translated and translation can make or break a book but….this wasn’t it. I’ll never really understand why SA and animal abuse/cruelty is such a prominent part of the horror genre but it’s so pointless to me and does nothing but twist my stomach and make me want to stop reading. *ESPECIALLY* when those two things don’t impact the characters in any meaningful way. It’s just gratuitous cruelty that serves no purpose at that point. Overall it was an interesting plot line but the execution wasn’t there for me. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia

ifeanart's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Grief, and Suicide attempt

tavvyj's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I read this in a book club and can tell I liked it quite a bit more than most of them did. This novel is emotional, and so much of it is tense. Heuvelt uses very specific language to stand out specific passages, and because of that it can warrant disgust at times.

I'm going to talk about the nipples here, which are a large part of the shock value. My friends said things like "don't make a drinking game out of it" and the like, so while I was reading I kept count of the mentions. While it's a higher number than one would expect in a non-smut or romance book, it mentions them 10 total times, 9 of which are for shock value and disgust. Talking about Tyler's nips was weird though. 

In any case, the use seems pretty clear to make the imagery stand out and not just mentioning nipples just to mention nipples as my friends emphasized.

The book is dark and emotional, it's horrific. And it's a reminder that the true evil in the world is, and has always been, humans being afraid of something.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

torrentsofhayl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Rape and Pregnancy

luxrae's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

chainsawheartbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I’ve finally finished this.

The combination of characters and insane morals people will drop to all for the “good of the town” were really interesting, and I found the actual setting intriguing, I loved learning more about its rich and fucked up history. 

But this felt like a slog. I really wanted to enjoy it more than I did, and I can’t really put my finger on why I didn’t.

There was a whole host of characters that I both wanted more information on, while also not really caring what happened to them.

And I really wish that the witch had more to do, especially in the end. I understand the whole metaphorical aspect of it, but I wanted her to get shit done.

All in all, I’m content with the fact I’ve read it, but I sadly can’t see myself revisiting this. Evidently this just wasn’t for me.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Racism, Islamophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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

1.0

an absurd amount of nipple in this book and I assure you, it isn’t in a fun sexy way. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Alcohol

There isn’t a tag for the f slur but it is used a handful of times.