Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

32 reviews

thekatreturns's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

I adored this book. I won’t say too much so as not to spoil it, but it was my favorite read of the year. It feels like a rebuttal to the way that horror stories are often told, but beyond being a statement about the world, it is frightening, engaging, and deeply, darkly funny in its own right. The main cast is almost entirely lesbian and bisexual women who are distinct and flawed and real and so interesting to watch interact. That said, unless I missed something, the main cast is all white Americans with some degree of class privilege. The class aspect is intentional and absolutely commented upon, for what that’s worth, and the supporting cast is racially diverse, so that’s why I marked “it’s complicated” for diversity. I knocked a half point off because I wanted more worldbuilding out of the ending, for what was revealed then to be discussed as it relates to the previous events of the book, but the very last chapters were immensely satisfying nonetheless. I would highly recommend this to horror fans of all kinds, metafiction fans, those who like stories interweaving the past and present, anyone into Fraught Female Friendships, and those who just love really wonderful-in-all-their-flaws queer woman characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Racism, Violence, Car accident, Murder, and Pregnancy

Insects, specifically yellowjackets, feature heavily in this book. They are included in nearly all of the horror elements. For me, graphic=extremely unavoidable, long, plot crucial elements. moderate= plot or thematically relevant, but don’t stand out as particularly graphic. Minor=not described in detail.

penofpossibilities's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Misogyny, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Fatphobia, Dementia, Abortion, and Death of parent

re_leyendo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Gore, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Car accident

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, and Gaslighting

Minor: Biphobia

booksthatburn's review against another edition

Not a style I like.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Violence

Minor: Ableism, Xenophobia, and Vomit

aseel_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I absolutely adored the narrative style, having it break the fourth wall was super engaging. I liked the switch between the two time periods and having a mix of horror and the occult in it. I really enjoyed the rawness of the characters, especially merit and I liked how queer the book was. I think the ending could have had a more shocking event, which would have tied the story more holistically.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

jacemchale's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I really didn't expect to enjoy this book so much when I started it but now I think a piece of me will hold onto the story and all of it's characters.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

snowydaze's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Death

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Drug use, Fatphobia, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

barefootbetsy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Very fun book to read! It’s long, but not longer than it needs to be and I quite enjoyed the meta-story style. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Torture, Violence, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Lesbophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

mallory10100's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

oh my god i loved this book so much, what a creative story. i LOVED how gay it was 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Drug use, Sexual violence, Vomit, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

i highly recommend reading this :) at the start i was overwhelmed at the size of it, but it’s very much necessary for this story

kalagallop's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

Of the two timelines in the book, the characters in the present day are much more compelling and likable, while still being flawed. The ending is ambiguous in a way that is slightly frustrating, but the story was engaging the whole way through. I couldn’t put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Biphobia, Body horror, Death, Suicide, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Sexual content