Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Discomfort of Evening by Lucas Rijneveld

16 reviews

mokuren's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

beckyjc'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

2.75

What to say about this novel! I have found the past international Booker winners to be interesting reads so was keen to give this a try, but only had a vague understanding of the premise when I started it. Be warned: this book goes to some very dark and unsettling places.

The narrator is a 10 year old girl who lives on a farm in the Netherlands with her extremely religious family. In the early pages of the novel her eldest brother dies in an ice skating accident and this event sends the family members spiraling into grief in different ways, none of which involve honestly expressing how they feel with each other. This leads to some destructive, disturbing and downright bizarre behaviour on the part of the remaining children, who are effectively left to their own devices by their devastated, emotionally repressed parents. They each plot to escape the stifling and loveless environment of the farm - through violent and sexually abusive outlets, as well as literal distancing - and this culminates in an ending that shocked me.

I had reached a bit of a saturation point for shock by this stage, but still didn't really expect her to kill herself at the end. I'm not sure why because in retrospect, Jas clearly felt there was no way out and the second half of the novel is definitely an escalation of desperation, but perhaps my foolish hope would not let me come to that conclusion?!

 

The subject matter is of course very sad, but the unflinching writing style, brutal and sparse, and bleak imagery didn't really encourage my empathy - despite it being autobiographical. I felt like an alarmed observer watching with mounting unease (and downright disgust at points!) as the family comes apart at their greatest time of need.

The foot-and-mouth outbreak and the catastrophic impact this had on farming communities, which I remember well from my own adolescence, adds yet another layer of oppressive loss.

I do find the concept of disgust an interesting one to unpack - that we can be repulsed by our bodies and what they are capable of, that we inflict guilt and shame through religious bigotry on ourselves and others - and this book does a fine job of exploring that alongside a child's interpretation of death and mortality. This is a tale of deprivation in all its forms and the effect this has on our sense of security and belonging. It is vividly drawn but left me feeling cold and in need of a hug! Time for something a bit more upbeat next!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Grief, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Excrement

Minor: Abandonment

junkits's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Incest, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

serenadoodles_'s review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Honestly this book made me feel uncomfortable but I guess that they meant for that to happen, it’s not a bad book, it was easy to read and it was interesting, 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Infertility, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

lottelow'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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Grief, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Incest, Islamophobia, Physical abuse, Torture, and Toxic relationship

uncomfortablenouns's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• 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: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Incest, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Not for the squeamish. Honestly, I mostly felt trolled by this book.