Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

78 reviews

pastelmeganes's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.75

Tj Klune beautifully conveyed an imaginative scenario exploring death and the world in between our life and the afterlife. It was healing to read and i feel like almost anybody can gain something from it. I found myself almost crying numerous times. I really enjoyed all the characters honestly. I REALLY appreciate Hugo’s character being a black queer man who owns a tea shop. I thought it was beautiful. I love black men being portrayed with soft characteristics. All the main characters i found were incredibly likable. If i have to make one critique,
i didnt like that the manager used words like “bastard”, it was hard for me to believe that an omnipresent, ethereal being that assists with the passing of human life to the afterlife would use jargon like that personally. It slightly took me out.

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erebus53's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.0

I read this book as the book of the month April 2023 for the Lighthouse Library Fiction Book Club.

What happens when an utter jerk falls down dead and nobody cares? It sounds like the setup for an off-colour joke but that is the basic premise of this book. This is a redemption story that I haven't seen the like of since, The Good Place. It's not quite as funny, but definitely moving in places.

This story had me in tears from about chapter 17. In some ways I felt a bit like I was being played. There were corny asides and comedic beats (because who doesn't love an irreverent ghost dog that ghost-pees on oblivious mean people)
interwoven with the hard sob-stories, passionate regrets, rage, and loss, and failure, and grief. It felt like these hard emotions were all pulled out into the light like boxes of old photos long hidden under the bed. *cough*crying? not me.. NO... just allergic to uhm, dust *sniffle*

The characters in the story are of diverse ethnicity, and that's a Thing.. it does affect their lives, but is not the hook of who they are, so I think that was quite considerately managed. They are also of diverse ages, and that makes things a little more interesting. There is a definite LGBT thing that, from looking at comments from other readers, is not picked up by many readers until later in the plot. Although it's cute (and Narrator,  Kirt Graves, makes the tea-shop owner, Hugo sound like a Black Keanu Reeves) it feels like some of the character development and friendship-building is a little hurried along. I felt like the man we meet at the start of the book is unredeemable, and yet Klune metaphorically scales a seemingly insurmountable wall, attempting to do just that. This is a story that tells of a world where God, as humans conceive of it, is not an accurate depiction of how the universe runs, but there are "powers that be".

This story has an author's content warning on the start of the book. It does deal with death, and suicide, and a bunch of really hard topics. That makes it feel like a bit of a therapy piece (the line "you're not my Therapist!" comes up a few times). It's a fun book if you feel like you can wade into some really emotional topics, and have a spare box of tissues handy.

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shindanker's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

5.0

One of my favorite books. 

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rach59r's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring 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


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bootrat's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring 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

5.0


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ashconklin's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

5.0


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aurinkotuulia's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

4.25


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heather_harrison's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A Christmas Carol, but make it queer and dead. (and a dash of Beetlejuice vibes). While it doesn’t stand up compared to the fan-fave House In the Cerulean Sea, it’s nice nonetheless. 

It will make you laugh and pull at your heartstrings, as evidenced by my favourite (if conflicting) quotes; 


“Don’t let him stick his thermometer in your baked goods” 



“Anxiety is betrayal. My mind and my body working against me”. 

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carolined314's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring slow-paced

5.0


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chelseareadsbooks_'s review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book took me on a journey! Laughed, cried, pondered my own existence. Definitely would recommend!

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