Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Hunger by Alma Katsu

7 reviews

singlier's review

challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.5

The Hunger 1.5/5 🐂s by Alma Katsu 

Oh I wanted to enjoy this book and I was so excited to give it a read. The Hunger is a horror retelling of the ill-fated Donner Party expedition during the mid 1800s, weaving real life histories and people with a supernatural twist of horror and fear.

But it just... Didn't hit. There were a lot of narrator characters (around 5: Edwin Bryant, Charles Stanton, James Reed, Tamsen Donner, and Elitha Graves) and I never really got close to any of them or felt a strong connection to them. The way the book is ordered, often something important would happen to a character, but it wouldn't be until the next chapter that it's revealed *why*. 

Also, there are just...a ton of characters and a few chapters in I just gave up trying to keep who's who straight: who was cousins with who, who was the daughter-in-law of who, who was who's son or the servants of who, so on. Rarely so I ask for this, but I really wished to have a family tree in the beginning to keep things straight.

The book struggles most notably with its treatment of Native American practices, quickly falling into the ideas of "Indigenous mysticism" as soon as things turn awry. Maybe it's playing off the beliefs of the settlers, but for once I'd like a horror where there wasn't "an old Native American folktale detailing this exact horror situation" going on, you know? Also, negative a million points for using the s-term to describe the collection of symptoms (cannibalism, violence, etc) of the settlers. Turning them into "creatures less than human" felt like it took away from the horror of the situation of the Donner Party: the scariest thing of all is realizing that even "good" people are not exempt from evil, and will commit atrocious acts to their fellow people in acts of survival or desperation.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Classism, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual assault

Minor: Terminal illness, Incest, Vomit, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

piepatch's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Murder, Death, Child death, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Homophobia, Gore, Pedophilia, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Colonisation

Moderate: Body horror, Classism, Racial slurs, Rape, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Misogyny, Alcohol, Incest, and Sexism

filipa_maia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I was really interested in this book, knowing that this is (loosely) based on a true story I was expecting to get more addicted to it. But that didn't happened.

Although, at some points this is a very dark and twisted story I found it very dragging and kinda hard to keep up. There are too many characters, too many similar names, too many background stories...

Maybe I need to reread it and the next time I will enjoy it more. We'll see!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Medical trauma, Sexism, Self harm, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Animal death, Classism, Misogyny, Mental illness, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Grief, Xenophobia, Slavery, Sexual violence, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Gun violence, Gore, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gaslighting, and Suicide attempt

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

The Details:
Narrated by Kirsten Potter
Unabridged 

I think I would have preferred having read the non fiction event of what happened, which is a first for me.
It just felt a bit off and I can't exactly pin point why - but I know that for me, I quickly lost track of all the characters.

The skin walker lore was interesting, and I would like to read more about that in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Classism, Death, Sexual violence, Torture, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Child death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Grief, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Murder, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Violence, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Sexual assault

queer_venus's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Far more incest than anticipated? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Medical content, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

judereadsalot's review

adventurous dark mysterious relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Bullying, Racism, Gore, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Sexual content

Minor: Rape, Pedophilia, and Incest

rachelunabridged's review

adventurous dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Sexism, Racism, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Gore, Death, Death of parent, Cannibalism, Child death, Child abuse, Body horror, Blood, Homophobia, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Animal death

Minor: Incest