Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Les sept morts d'Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

102 reviews

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

teatales's review against another edition

mysterious

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

3.0

I think I liked the premise more than the book itself, although obviously I kept reading through the several hundred pages. The last quarter of the book felt like it had too many twists.

And the weird explanation for the whole host swapping thing left much to be desired, as did the ending. I find it quite boring when it turns out to be some ~crazy~ woman as the killer

Hated the fatphobia as well 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Drug use

Minor: Colonisation

ayoderable's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-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

2.5

Egregious fat phobia lost the book 1.5 stars

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia

nini23's review against another edition

mysterious

• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

Convoluted but not necessarily clever. The fat-shaming, oy! What happened to Phillip Sutcliffe discovered by Charles Cunningham to have the porcelain beak costume in his closet - no reaction whatsoever by Aiden when he meets Sutcliffe. A forgotten loose end? 

What I found interesting I wish the author had elaborated more upon:-
- the influence of the host's personality, impulses and thought patterns upon the mind occupying the body
- the class differences especially the indignities suffered by the maids, stablehands, butlers etc.

The sinister atmosphere is well set up though the answer to this locked door murder mystery puzzle is not something one could have figured out from the clues provided.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement and Classism

kllyholt's review against another edition

mysterious slow-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

2.75

I rarely have trouble getting through books but god this one dragged itself on. It didn’t get remotely interesting to me until chapter 52. The only reason I kept with it is that it’s currently the only audiobook I had on loan, but I do regret listening to the audiobook as there’s no way to skim past the boring parts. 
Also, the Ravencourt & butler parts are just purely the author being very fatphobic and ableist as well. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape

jennifermackaman's review against another edition

I had to stop reading due to the extreme anti-fat bias. This type of book should not exist. The author wrote a character to be unbelievably biased and does not interrogate that bias at all. He describes feeling deep shame when looking at himself in the mirror in a fat body and the author treats this as a normal reaction. He has such extreme loathing for fat bodies and is miserable the entire time solely because of the size of his body. Fat people are able to live joy-filled and active lives. Books like this feed into the idea that fatness is worthy of shame and not acceptance or celebration. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism and Drug use

artstitute's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

This book was full of twists and turns, some of which I found more compelling than others.

The big twist that the whole plot was some cooked-up punishment a la Black Mirror kind of felt unnecessary to me. It didn't ruin the rest of the book, but it introduced a lot of moral quandaries that I don't think added much. OTOH, the Evelyn twist? IMMACULATE.

All in all, though, I definitely couldn't put it down and I would recommend it!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Gore, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

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

uv_sensibility's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.25

The first 100 or so pages were strong and enthralling. Then the gratuitous fatphobia came in. And then, the myriad of underdeveloped concepts. 

I feel like this book could've been so much better if the author split it up into a series. I loved the murder mystery, time-travel, groundhog day concepts. It's a very twisty book, but some of the twists just didn't do it for me. They felt unresolved & medium-rare. 

The author has a very strong voice and is great at writing vividly. I felt that his (over)use of dialogue was overdone. Sometimes less is more, you know? Then again, that's down to personal preference.

Also, a bit of a nitpick, but... why does the summary give us the MC's name if he spends the first 100 or so pages trying to find his identity? I feel like that could've been kept secret to naturally unravel in the story rather than have us already know the answer
...😅

It's an easy read despite its length. The concepts are fun and the author knows how to write. But... the twists and turns, characters, and some concepts feel underdeveloped. It could've benefited from being split into a multi-part series. And, once more, was the fatphobia really that necessary?

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, and Sexual harassment

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

---

Content Warnings

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