Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Discomfort of Evening by Lucas Rijneveld

16 reviews

msmagoo502's review against another edition

challenging dark funny hopeful sad slow-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

3.75

This book was challenging and triggering. It was also written very well and it really takes you into the mind of being around the age of the character but some of the things were just incredibly difficult and terrible to go through and it's very sad the life they live full stop I'm having a struggle inside to decide what did I just read? Did I like what I just read? Was it in fact good? And My outcome is yes it's a good book technically. But it's dark.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Animal death, Sexual content, Grief, Sexual violence, Incest, Excrement, Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Incestual undertones

emzilia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.0

This is an incredibly dark and disturbing novel, but the graphic content is juxtaposed by the poetic and beautiful writing from the perspective of a traumatised, hurting, child. It captures the way we used to think as children and would make logic connections to the things around us. For Jas, however, her sense of the world is informed by tragedy and disfunction. 

This is a beautiful novel because it is written beautifully, but the story is anything but. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

inceptionistbooks's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

“Sadness doesn’t grow, only the space it takes up” 

Well, the title fits. It really isn’t a fun read, please take care and look at the trigger warnings beforehand! I’m not even sure that I got all of them below. 

If you hate questionable characters, this is not a book for you. The characters here are grieving and have found no way of working through that grief in a healthy way. So we see a family breaking further apart (because the issues were there before the loss) and Jas, the narrator, is consumed by her own grief and her own thoughts. It’s so clear that she has so much that she wants to talk about with someone who will hear it but no way of knowing how to or with whom. Her inner monologue has these moments which are almost heart-breaking in their simplicity but clearly show that she is barely holding it together (because she’s a child with no emotional support whatsoever). Her being constipated really is just an analogy for the fact that keeping shit in will just make things worse. Yes, it’s a major thing in the book and it is gross about it, so be aware of that as well. 

I’m very unsure how necessary certain elements were since I have the impression that it would have worked even if they weren’t included. I also wasn’t happy with the ending since it left you just feeling worse with no hope in sight. But I can’t necessary fault the author for going this route. 

This is one of those books that I could analyse to pieces because it is certainly well thought out but I would have to reread it and that won’t happen any time soon. This is HEAVY and I need something fun after this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Excrement, Incest, Animal death, Child abuse, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Toxic relationship, Death, Eating disorder, and Pedophilia

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Animal death, Child death, Excrement, Incest, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcohol

meaghanelizabook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Eating disorder, Grief, Sexual content, Suicide, Death, Excrement, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Child death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Violence, Vomit, Cursing, Incest, Toxic friendship, Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment

thirdtimesacharm's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Grief, Toxic relationship, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Toxic friendship, Incest, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Abortion, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Self harm, and Sexism

jackbifrost's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Death, Excrement, Grief, Incest, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Bullying, Vomit, Gore, Abortion, Emotional abuse, and Eating disorder

thaliasoul's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Death

nataliebeech's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

2.75

I feel so conflicted by this book because the writing is brilliant, and yet I can’t say I enjoyed it and honestly I’m pretty relieved it’s over. I’m interested in reading books with unusual styles and I think this definitely has that, and Rijneveld writes from a child’s perspective so well, but oh my god is this book bleak. It’s a book that disturbs and challenges and I admire not shying away from how dark childhood and children can actually be, but it does feel like an onslaught of abuse, shit, neglect, body horrors and I’m not sure exactly what to take from it. I also didn’t feel that connected to any of the characters, so the awful things that happened weren’t really emotional for me, just unsettling. It seems maybe like an examination of child neglect and trauma, and it is a tragedy in many ways. If you’re ready for all that then buckle up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Death, Pedophilia, Body horror, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Child death, and Self harm

Moderate: Blood

ferre_smeets's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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

3.0

Incredibly slow and dark, disgusted by almost everything every character did, but that just shows how good it's written

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Grief, Child abuse, Mental illness, Vomit, Bullying, Self harm, Animal death, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Cursing, Alcohol, Car accident, and Cancer