Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

4 reviews

nikrib's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.0

How this managed to have such positive reviews and a tv adaptation is beyond me. Hopefully this narrative translates better on screen than it did for however many pages of misogynist and overplayed chaotic multiverse drama readers trudge through to get to the (happy?) ending. The characters are all flat, insufferable and static. The female characters essentially have no role other than debuting every time this author needs to sprinkle misogyny into the narrative and painfully attempt to intertwine family values (or lack thereof). The protagonist is said to be incredibly smart but hates his life. Then multiverse jump to now he wants his old life back. Then multiverse jump again to he’s banging his wife (but also not his wife)? What is the true overall moral here? No, I didn’t “miss it” or fail to “recognize it”, there just isn’t a decent moral written here. The descriptive language is atrocious and I sincerely hope the author’s other books aren’t also written in this fashion. From the very first chapter readers can already tell this book is written by a “man’s man”. ..Yeehaw.. There seems to be a consensus amongst the positive reviews that readers who enjoyed this book just like multiverse concepts, sci-fi, and so on. Well, sure, but does that really hold on its own? There’s plenty of books and media that deliver on multiverse concepts. This wasn’t it. I almost DNF a few times when the narrative was excruciatingly slow and counterintuitive, but I pressed on due to my wife and I wanting to watch the tv show adaptation (it had a decent commercial!). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Murder, and Gun violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Body shaming

fkshg8465's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Rounding up to five. This is the third of hood books I’ve read, and each one hits the sweet spot for me. I love this author’s mind. The way he writes opens up my mind. I’m going to read every one of his books between this year and next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Death, Grief, Abandonment, Rape, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, and Sexual content

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.75

The good:  I enjoyed the UberChat.  I felt that right when that was introduced a different ending could have spawned that turned into a lighthearted rom-com and I like to imagine that.

The bad:  I knew pretty early on that this was not going to be a favorite.  I don't read a lot of thrillers in general but I enjoy sci-fi so I figured I would give it a shot.  I couldn't stand the main character.  And thus, the book was doomed in my eyes.  The pacing was jumpy, and the plot was predictable (as in, I guessed what really happened in the first chapter and the main character didn't figure it out until the ~50% mark).  There was some promise for some thoughtful introspection but the approach was heavy-handed at best.  Some of the descriptions were vivid and others were flat out whacky.

I don't know if I will try another book by the author, but I don't think I was the intended audience for this work so who knows what the future holds.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Torture, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Self harm, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexism, Violence, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Infidelity, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

A sci-fi thriller, this book kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. It was interesting and well-written. The story is compelling, unsettling, and fantastical. parts of the science-y description/explanation were outside my realm of comprehension but all in all this book is incredibly accessible to all readers. The chapters are really long but the writing style made the book fly by for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Sexual content, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Abandonment, Animal death, Grief, Gun violence, and Animal cruelty