Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

8 reviews

mardana's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Grief, and Death

Minor: Death of parent, Child death, Terminal illness, Violence, Outing, Bullying, and Animal death

askirmishofwit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This book felt like what would happen if Dead Like Me and The Good Place were mixed together and then served with a side-order of sentimentality. Which is to say I really loved it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

Moderate: Terminal illness, Animal death, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, and Infidelity

leahvanert's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

This book covers a lot: death, grief, loss, regret, personal growth, depression, etc. It gives a beautiful perspective on life after death, finding your own family when yours has fallen short, and moving on when loved ones have passed.

This book was LONG. While I appreciate the themes that were explored, not much really happened. It was fairly repetitive. I can appreciate the story, but it could have been way better. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, Bullying, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, and Child death

jlaz_13's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

 TJ Klune has done it again! He made me sob like no one's business. As someone who has a difficult relationship with death, this book ripped my heart apart and then stitched it back together. It was a good source of catharsis for me. I don't know how to explain how much I love his writing style. I will continue to read any of his adult fiction books! 425/10 will recommend and read again! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Self harm

Minor: Bullying, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Confinement, and Animal death

batwinggoth's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

The book has a slow start, but the delivery of main character's struggles and inner monologue are written whimsically and humorous which is a great balance to the dark and heavy themes of the novel. The characters are all written well with great detail to each. The story's narrative is well encompassing of both predictable story progression and the pleasantly unexpected that pull you even deeper into the story being told.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Car accident, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Self harm

The book is centered around dead people and meeting people from all walks of life as they die in various ways - understanding and helping them process their dead and pass. Most characters are complicated and real with great detail of their emotions, feelings, and inner dialogue and they process their life and what happened to them or what they're currently going through. There's a child

who died from terminal illness whose mother is actively grieving and constantly visiting the tea shop (central setting of the book).

There's a character who we meet who was

murdered in an ally who recounts his death and expresses his extreme anger drastically.

There's a character who was bullied and emotionally abused

by his parents and experiences a sudden loss of his partner in the hospital and ends up dying by suicide due to his overwhelming grief.

The main character begins as an extremely toxic, workaholic and overall extremely bitter man who had been once married to a woman, the both of whom where extremely toxic and gaslighting towards each other in the end. The sexual harassment

is only in reference to a man and a woman who visit their tea shop often and constantly hits on Hugo in inappropriate ways and in one instance the man even says he'll 'wear him down' despite Hugo already rejecting him multiple times.

The animal death

is only mentioned because a main character, Apollo, is a ghost dog who had passed.

I may have missed other important instances of tagged content, but hopefully this helps give folks a better idea about the themes who need it to determine whether reading the book is right for them. I'd say while it's not impossible to skip past some graphic subjects, death and grief are unavoidable and I would suggest you not read the book if you are actively in mourning yourself unless you find reading about other people's grief and experiences cathartic in processing your own grief.

starsnstitchin's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Bullying, Car accident, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Stalking, Suicide, Animal death, Child death, and Death

erinp423's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

The premise of this book is really interesting, and the tone that TJ Klune brings helps add levity to a story essentially exploring death and afterlife. His tone is funny and the Black and LGBTQ representation feels organic and natural to the story and characters, not an afterthought or addition to check a box. 

While I loved all the characters, especially Apollo, I did feel the story was missing the depth that this subject requires and the story was a bit uneventful. I walked away understanding Wallace’s story and development, but not feeling moved. Another one I wanted to love, but felt a bit meh.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Sexual content, Death, Grief, Murder, and Terminal illness

lkeys's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief and Murder

Minor: Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Animal death, and Toxic relationship