Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Bálnahullás by Daniel Kraus

17 reviews

flamesocks's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Honestly horrible

bina_bee's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.5

I really wanted to put this book down but I was really curious about the story, I was not into the writing at all and I did not like the chapters about the past. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

okay_tlyn's review against another edition

adventurous reflective sad slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kirk0198's review against another edition

reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

2.0

Not really into the "father-son story of my dad is an asshole and I'm messed up because of it and am dealing with it now. " Childhood backstory and trauma interspersed through quick paced adventure tale. Gritty.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

aprilb_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

2.5

Ah yes, the classic story of dad has son, dad and son have bad relationship, dad kills himself, son gets swallowed by whale. Ya just hate to see it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Body horror, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

The word sphincter was used an UNGODLY amount of times.

andreatypesbraille's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

billyjepma's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.5

This took me on a ride, but not the one that either it or I expected. While the science behind the premise is in-depth and appropriately unsettling—the detailed anatomy and gore made this a tricky one to listen to while cooking dinner, tbh—and the actual problem-solving involved in Jay's attempts at survival is quite good, there's not enough here to sustain a novel. I'm not usually one to complain about "padding," but this book suffers from an excess of repetitive emotional beats and jarring flashbacks that feel tacked onto what could've and should've been a leaner novella.

It didn't take long for me to feel that padding, either. The flashbacks are haphazardly placed and often defuse the tension created by the gnarly survival narrative. They also lack the emotional depth required to enrich the story, which makes the flashbacks and dramatic scaffolding they're trying for feel tacked on at best. The symbolism and metaphors Krause draws aren't bad, but they're overwrought to the point of exhaustion. If the connections weren't repeatedly spelled out in exacting detail, I might've been more able and willing to get on board. But you don't get points for beating me over the head with a metaphor, regardless of how effective it might or might not be, especially when the goal of the metaphor is as frustrating as the tired trope of "maybe my abusive parent wasn't all bad, after all."

Let's talk about the abusive parent angle, too, because I have beef. My patience for a "redemption" arc is very thin when it comes to this brand of parent-child relationship, so this book had an uphill struggle right out of the gate. But when your protagonist's father is as cruel as Mitt, you've already lost me. Krause's attempts at making him sympathetic are admirable, and some of them even struck a nerve, but Mitt is too vile a character for me to want to care about. I don't even like Jay as a protagonist, either! He's more shallow than not, and, as much as I hate to say it, he comes off as whiny. It doesn't help that the audiobook's narrator plays up Jay's youth, emphasizing the more annoying aspects of the characterization. There's little depth in the characters, either; all their backstory and drama are so predictable and one-note that they end up feeling more performative than anything.

The book isn't all bad, and I really wanted to like it, too, which is why it became increasingly frustrating to realize that I just didn't. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Gore, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit and Pandemic/Epidemic

approx37bugz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child abuse and Suicide

Minor: Cursing and Death of parent

crykea's review against another edition

challenging informative tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This is the kind of book I've just finished but is not finished with me. I will be thinking if this for a long time and have already pre-ordered the paperback so that I may one day own a copy for myself

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide and Terminal illness