Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Die sieben Tode der Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

17 reviews

mr_munch's review against another edition

• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Fatphobia

Moderate: Gun violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual content

thecriticalreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

Why I Read It: The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton first came onto my radar when I was looking for books involving time loops, since I love time loops. Months later, I saw it in the bookstore and decided to pick it up.

 

Review:

Turton should get a standing ovation for the brilliance of this book’s concept. It’s incredibly original, and no lazy author would have even come close to touching it. The execution of the concept is also laudable, as Turton’s beautiful writing and detailed thought made this book a joy to read. I never felt impatient about figuring out the mystery; I was content to let the story unfold and follow the main character step by step as he painfully learns more and more about his situation. Despite the undeniably convoluted plot, I was able to follow along, and I appreciated the moral questions Turton poses throughout the story. More importantly, the characters’ motivations and actions felt well-thought-out and realistic. It would have been far too easy for everything to feel contrived, but for most of the book, this is not the case.

 

I knew that no matter how amazing most of the book was, my ultimate measure of the book would rest heavily on the conclusion. While the conclusion is not the disaster it could have been—no plot holes are introduced, and it remains well-thought-out—unfortunately, it did not quite live up to my hopes. It fell into the trap mysteries so often fall into, in which the author springs a twist so out of left field that it feels contrived and requires a lengthy explanation to understand. The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle did not need such a twist for me to feel impressed by the mystery and the book’s intelligence. I felt that the ending somewhat betrayed the main character’s arc.

My main problem with the ending was Anna’s character. How am I supposed to believe that one of the world’s most evil people somehow becomes a good person by endlessly cycling through time loops in a setting that is described as “poisonous” in its immorality and corruption?

One other thing that bothered me considerably was the fatphobic language. The language Turton uses to describe a fat character is unnecessarily cruel. 

 

The Run-Down: 

You will probably like The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle if:

·      You are intrigued by unique, original premises

 

You might not like The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle if:

·      You dislike intricate plots

·      You go into the book wedded to your expectations

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Medical content, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Torture, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

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

maeverose's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

I think the concept is super cool but I’m not a fan of how it was executed.

Pros:

I like the writing style, and I’ll acknowledge that the author has to be pretty smart to have come up with this story and make everything connect. It was also not at all predictable.

Cons:

First, It’s overly convoluted. There’s too many characters and events to keep track of, and because it’s jumping around in time so much it’s difficult to follow where you are and whats happened or not happened yet in the day. I think it would’ve been better if it had been done in a way that was a little less confusing for the reader. Less characters, and less unnecessary details. By the time I was about halfway through I was pretty bored and only really reading to find out who Aiden, Anna and the plague doctor were and how he was reliving the same day over and over. That was the most interesting part to me, I didn’t end up caring about the murder mystery at all. I did find the explanation of the fantasy elements to be really interesting, but we were given hardly any information about it. I felt like we should have gotten more.

Second, the body shaming. I’d heard going in that it had fatphobia in it but.. maybe I’m being dramatic but I don’t know how this was able to get published without anyone suggesting the author tone it down a bit. I don’t know how the author thought he could publish that without backlash. It’s really bad. I don’t know how anyone could actually think that way about another person’s body. Every single thing about Ravencourt’s appearance he describes in an unflattering or insulting way. And it’s never corrected in the narrative so that makes me think that’s the author’s thoughts. It’s not just that either, I felt that there was a lot of body shaming in general throughout this book, including ableism. The only characters that are ever described as being attractive are white, young, blonde and fit/thin. I think the only exception to that is Grace, who I believe had dark hair. But everything else still applies.

Third, going off the last one a bit, there’s zero diversity. Everybody is straight, cis, white, and most of the important characters are men. Evelyn and Anna being obviously important to the story but they’re hardly in it compared to the men. None of Aiden’s 8 hosts are women. On top of that, a lot of the people we’re supposed to dislike are described as ‘ugly’ or disfigured.

Fourth, what was the deal with Aiden loving Anna? Even before the reveal of who she was at the end, I didn’t understand why he was so protective of her. He hardly spent any time with her, he didn’t even know her, he knew he couldn’t trust  anyone, and he was straight up told she would betray him, and yet he was determined to save and protect her. He actually loved her, even after finding out who she was and what she did to his sister. I don’t understand how he could care for her after learning that, even if she had changed. That whole thing was just so weird to me

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Mental illness

Minor: Racism, Sexual content, Excrement, and Grief

Implied rape, memory loss, poisoning

leahrosiee's review against another edition

mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.75

Most of this book would have been 2 stars for how I struggled through it but it was unlike any other mystery I’ve experienced so it gains another star. Maybe in a different mood or time I would have liked it better. The way the story spirals in on itself is insane and I truly would have never seen the ending coming, which is frustrating and great at the same time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Torture

Minor: Self harm and Abandonment

ecetufan's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

fronkiekong's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? No

4.75

Trying to wrap my head around the fact that this was a debut novel

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Really gratuitous fatphobia