Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

84 reviews

hchandler1092's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Was expecting this book to have more descriptive horror aspects and scenes, but it was more of a creepy and morbid undertone with focus on the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gore

Moderate: Suicide

clarkg's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.75

Reading this book felt like being under a spell. There were so many delicious threads to unravel that I could not stop picking at it until I reached the end. My two main critiques are that 1.) The present-day narrative is noticeably less captivating than the historical narrative and 2.) I feel like there were missed opportunities to subvert established tropes. That said, it avoided being predictable and had some genuinely unsettling moments. Reader, I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual violence, Suicide, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cursing

jillaay_h's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Vomit, and Gaslighting

celery's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ferns_citruscorner_8's review against another edition

funny mysterious tense slow-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

3.75

I have such a love and hate relationship with this book. I love the writing style and the language, by God, I truly do. I’m also amazed at this book for being my first book with polyamorous characters in it! I’m personally aroace and find it at times very discomforting (a lot of horny-ness), but loved the ending! Sometimes, one of the characters get so fecken annoying and edge-lordy, but I’m glad I decided on reading through. I’d recommend this to people who like long books with hella queerness in it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Sexual content

Minor: Fatphobia, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

rosaa_12's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Death

sauvageloup's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

glad to have read this, because the concept is fresh and interesting, and I need to read more wholly sapphic books. but it tried to do too much and didnt pull it off.
this review on tumblr by flying-elliska has all my thoughts well said:
https://www.tumblr.com/flying-elliska/672822130083233792/and-now-for-sapphic-reads-time-the-sequel-tm?source=share

pros:
- the setting was a fleshed out character in itself and I loved that. the orchard apples, the tower, the orangerie, the beach, etc.
- I liked the story of the original woman, simone, who lived on the land.
- some imagery was definitely creepy and disturbing, especially eating wasps.
- the main characters were interesting, and I liked that they became a poly triad rather than a love triangle.

cons:
- too many characters, too much rambling, too meta, too plotty and just too long.
- I never really got truly creeped out. it just didnt sink deep enough into that and there wasnt enough real danger. the deaths were distant and over fast. didnt feel that sad at any of them.
- more interesting to see more flo and Clara for sure.

a different read for sure and I'm glad I read it, but disappointing and a bit slow too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

podanotherjessi's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

2.5

This book seems to be almost universally loved, so I must be the one missing something. While the premise of this book sounds fantastic, the outcome for me left a lot to be desired. The characters were really strong, and there were some genuinely creepy passages, but it never got scary, and I had three major complaints.
First, the writing style was totally off for me. The author wrote directly to the reader (literally, interjecting asides and addressing them to "dear Reader"). This took me out of the story every time. It also had the effect of making it seem like the story was being told almost as a first hand account, which got confusing given the multiple third person limited perspective. If the narrator was someone there, how could they possibly know what characters were thinking? If they weren't, then why did the writing style seem so conversational? It just really didn't work for me.
Second, the pacing was way off. This is meant to be - in part - about the filming of a movie, but they don't even start shooting until more than halfway through. That's also the first time the present story line even goes to Brookhants. It takes so long for anything interesting to get started, and by that point, I was so checked out of the book that it would have been a tremendous feat to reengage me.
Thirdly, and to be honest my biggest complaint, is that there were too many layers to this story. Instead of telling one story really well, this book ends up telling two and a half stories okay. There was not enough of Clara and Flo, and way too much of the current story. We never get Mary's story at all. I would have loved literally any one of these stories - Mary's memoir, the tragedy of the Brookhants school, or the movie - to be told in full and done really well. Instead, we have a disjointed layered story in which the book cuts away at awkward moments, events are skimmed over, and huge sections of each tale seem to have been cut away entirely.
In the end, this book was a bit of a mess that gets an extra star for pretty good characters and a really cool setting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Minor: Suicide

darumachan's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious 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: Gaslighting

Moderate: Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, and Vomit

achay91's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy