Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Les sept morts d'Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

82 reviews

heoleen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense slow-paced

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

3.25

The story itself is very unique. However, I was confused throughout most of it, which is why I gave it a lower rating. It was difficult keeping track of the different characters and their personalities. The concept was good though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Body horror, Violence, and Body shaming

Moderate: Fatphobia, Grief, Suicide, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Death

shaylashaylala's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Rape, Blood, Gaslighting, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Child death, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

chloesteele_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Fatphobia

Minor: Rape

bill_nai_bxtch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Murder, Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Confinement, Death of parent, Child death, Toxic friendship, Rape, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Classism, Death, Grief, and Sexual assault

fraise's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Blood, Classism, Gaslighting, Stalking, Violence, Animal death, Child death, Death, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Addiction, Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexism, and Sexual violence

Minor: War and Death of parent

amicamerlo'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Death, Murder, Classism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Suicide

chrnclesofnadia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.0

Difficult to get into but all around rewarding

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Rape, Addiction, Death, Gore, Sexual harassment, Blood, Murder, Child death, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Torture, Classism, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Animal death, Drug abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

2.75

This is interesting, but it had way too many characters for me to keep track of, and I didn't feel like I "knew" any of them, even after 17 hours of audiobook. I also may have not been a huge fan of the writing style.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Physical abuse, Stalking, Blood, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Bullying, Classism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Ableism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Chronic illness, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Abandonment, Mental illness, Alcohol, Grief, and Infidelity

Minor: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual harassment

Avoid if you don't like: torture, trying to remember about 24 vaguely similar characters, or telling instead of showing.

twistykris's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

2.0

I honestly was going to DNF this book about 20% in and I wish I had. I loved the concept of this (especially since I'm going through a phase of wanting to read murder mysteries) but I seriously struggled getting through this.

1. The fatphobia made me so so uncomfortable. Aiden is in a host body of one character, and every other paragraph talks about how "huge" and "grotesque" this man is, and how every piece of furniture "creaks" under his "immense" weight, and how he has "many greasy chins." It felt excessive and unnecessary (yes, he's fat, you hate how fat he is when you're in his body, we get it. And sure, maybe some of it was
   because the thoughts and memories of the hosts start to take over Aiden's mind, and maybe this is that character's own self-hate and internalized fatphobia but YIKES
   ).  
2. I don't mind reading a book I feel is dense or challenging. But maybe my brain was just not prepared for the absolute string-and-post-it-note levels of dense this book felt. I had to make a GoogleDoc to keep track of who said what when and who interacted with who because as it turns out, tiny little details would pop up later and I had to be constantly re-reading and flipping back to previous chapters, and not in a fun "OH I'M MAKING A CONNECTION" way; more of a "wait, who said what? I'm so confused" way. To be honest: this book made me feel dumb as hell at times.
3. I couldn't seem to be invested in these characters. I felt a twinge of it for Aiden closer to the ending after a big reveal, but nothing that made me hold my breath in anticipation, fear, or excitement.
4. Without spoilers: the ending left me feeling a sort of "ick."
5. There were some things that felt unanswered in an unsatisfying way.

All in all, I'm giving this a 2.25- this book wasn't for me. I went into this book, craving a "Benoit Blanc"-style mystery but it left me feeling disappointed. Maybe it was a wrong-book-wrong-time scenario, maybe I would never have enjoyed this. But I leave with the knowledge that I need to learn when to put a book down if it isn't giving me satisfaction. 

If you enjoy a book that will make you put up a whiteboard to keep track of the intricate webs, if you enjoy multiple twists that leave you feeling a smidge lost and wanting to find the connections, if you feel compelled to immediately re-read a complex book so you can pick up on all the details you missed the first time, this might be the book for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Murder, Body shaming, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Rape, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Classism, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent and Ableism

laurajordensharris's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Blood, Drug use, Classism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Sexism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Murder, Torture, Violence, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, and Sexual harassment