Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

52 reviews

shinyfox's review

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gun violence, Death, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Infidelity, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Car accident

Minor: Addiction, Sexual content, and Alcohol

tanya240's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Self harm, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Stalking, Drug use, Blood, Car accident, Violence, Sexual harassment, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

wickedgrumpy's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I think I was unknowingly spoiled for this book years ago and had internalized the twist, even though I knew nothing else about the story, which made this pretty disappointing.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Torture, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

lottyfarmer's review

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Murder, Grief, Mental illness, Confinement, Death, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Violence, Stalking, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Cursing, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death of parent and Eating disorder

amanda_reads89's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Car accident, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, and Addiction

awkwardllama's review

dark reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Stalking, Infidelity, Murder, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Alcohol, Gore, Cursing, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Drug use, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

emmita's review

dark mysterious 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

4.5

I went into The Silent Patient knowing there was a significant amount of hype around this book, and luckily I was able to avoid spoilers (which I HIGHLY recommend you try to do as well if you want to read the silent patient). That said, I do think it lives up to the hype, if you like a good psychological mystery this will definitely be your cup of tea. Also, special shout out to the audiobook narrators, they do an INCREDIBLE job at bringing the story to life. If you pick up the novel and struggle, I definitely recommend giving the audiobook a try before you DNF. Hearts and kisses and all the love to Louise Brealey and Jack Hawkins (the voices of Alicia and Theo)!

Things I loved: the references to greek mythology (especially a myth that doesn't get a lot of mainstream attention), the dual POV between Theo and Alicia, the Red Herrings (I love when you get to a point where everyone looks suspicious), the big reveal (it is guessable but still leaves you with more questions),

Theo is objectively bad, I understand, but I love that he's also complicated enough that you're kind of in his corner for most of the book

Things I didn't love:

as a law student, the fact that Alicia's lawyer was the brother of the man she was being charged with murdering was insane, idk about the UK but most legal ethics codes would never let that conflict of interest slide

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Bullying

Minor: Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

mental health, mental health facilities, doctors behaving badly, cheating

n3ssa95's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Mental illness

Moderate: Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Toxic friendship, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Infidelity

steffxxxsteff's review

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Murder, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization

chelle22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Alcohol, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Car accident, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, and Toxic friendship