Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis

17 reviews

tgyll's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug use

Moderate: Addiction

nomonbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

2.5

This was well written, I just didn't like it. I didn't enjoy the gore and the tone or the people. I wanted to keep reading and that's pretty significant given what I didn't enjoy but also I'm so so glad I finally finished it. People who like thrillers may like this.

Also in regards to what happened (spoilers for ending)

I am like 100% sure in my mind at least that the trawler were the adult cult members and this was a story about a bunch of messed up kids left to their own devices too much, not cared for and adultified resulting in horrible conclusions. Everyone (of the children) was a victim here. The violent crime we see on page committed by a child is Brett murdering Robert. And that was a huge failure of every adult involved that let it get to that point. (And I know he's old enough to take responsibility for that somewhat but as with any crime in the real world committed by a 16 year old thecl context is so so important - and I know Robert has been accused of sexual abuse and I'm not absolving him from that responsibility but acknowledging that he was a victim here too from his father, and from the cult).

I don't think Brett attacked Susan and Thom, as it seems a bit random and out of character for him and it's more a further example of how things can are and will spiral in absence of I don't know, adult responsibility and supervision and putting it all on kids. The paranoia that seeped into their relationships and lack of trust for eachother and I think in the world generally to look after them.

They consistently had absent parents, drug addict parents, parents who are perpetrators of sexual abuse, alcoholic parents. The level of neglect is overwhelming, the absence of modeling of healthy interactions and relationships. The total lack of guidance from any adult in my opinion is what got them to where they ended up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Child abuse, Death, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Car accident, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Torture

hannschwarz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Torture, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

patrickreads89's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, Violence, Drug use, Mental illness, Murder, and Suicide

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Gore, and Grief

aristarcodisamo's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Blood, Body horror, Drug use, Kidnapping, Addiction, Torture, Drug abuse, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infidelity, Cursing, Classism, and Sexual violence

Minor: Antisemitism, Death of parent, Car accident, Outing, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, and Suicide attempt

fmoffiziell'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Drug abuse, Animal death, Excrement, Infidelity, Sexual content, Body horror, Homophobia, Murder, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Death, Gaslighting, and Alcoholism

emiliaborsikova's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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

2.5

Almost a dnf. The first half of this book is pretty much just buildup and an insight into the lives of the characters. Anything of specific significance happens in the last 70 pages. Which is terrible considering this book is 600 pages. Ultimately nothing happens except a bunch of privileged teenagers doing drugs, drinking and being rich. Except one day Bret, the narrator, randomly decides he thinks the new kid at school is a deranged psychopath murderer with very limited evidence (evidence being basically just delusion). For some reason Bret doesn’t actually believe his friendships are real and usually prefers to spend his time alone high on drugs. Half the book is basically him complaining about his supposedly perfect girlfriend who actually loves him but he’s gay and he is just using her, him doing drugs and drinking (everyone is so high all the time they apparently don’t care about girls being kidnapped and then them and animals/pets being  brutally mutilated), graphic gay content, tireless music references and Susan being called numb every 3 lines. Not to mention that the dialogue is bland and vague. The Trawler is randomly introduced and a bunch of information is dumped on you before it’s back to random scenes of the characters. The Trawler and the home attacks and the cult didn’t have a clear connection and the narrative felt blocky. Most of the time the plot of Robert and The Trawler seemed like a side plot. It’s about 80% filler and buildup (towards pretty much nothing actually) and 20% shocking graphic descriptions of gore (of both humans and animals). This book could have been 200 pages shorter and as my first Bret Easton Ellis book i’m a bit disappointed. Spoiler- Not to mention that there’s some vague reference that Bret, the narrator, may actually be the psychopath here (the arm bite mark scene) which had no effect other than to confuse me- The end tries to explain everything at once and I just think that the plot had so much potential but it was executed very badly - overwritten and vain. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Blood, Stalking, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Drug use, Suicide, Torture, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Car accident, Addiction, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual harassment, Rape, and Vomit

disguisedposer's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Homophobia, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Outing, Self harm, Stalking, Biphobia, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Animal death, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

gatsbyonabudget's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Animal death, Violence, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, and Alcohol