Reviews tagging 'Murder'

On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel

39 reviews

megstravellinglibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Violence, Child abuse, Animal death, Sexual violence, and Murder

snowiceblackfruit77's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Addiction, Drug use, Gore, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Blood, Stalking, Violence, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Body horror, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Vomit, Murder, and Physical abuse

madeline29's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

Unrelentingly grim and harrowing, I had to put this down a few times to emotionally recover.  The prose is very lyrical and became a little too abstract for me, I found myself skimming paragraphs but I also think this represented well the inner life of the characters. Much of this book felt like being in a dream (or nightmare).
 
I think story is (unfortunately) very true to the lives of women in poverty in rural America and I’m glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Murder, Rape, and Drug abuse

lisaadam's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Violence, Drug abuse, Child death, Rape, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Addiction, Death, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Blood, Drug use, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Murder

ruby_mae_read's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Addiction, Sexual assault, Rape, and Murder

bella_cavicchi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I found ON THE SAVAGE SIDE difficult to read, so unflinching in its depiction of poverty and addiction that I read with a clenched stomach, gripped in empathetic pain. But without this level of violence and trauma, this book would be lying to itself, and for that reason, I consider it a winner.

The novel only fell apart for me (and only slightly!) in the repetition of its lyricism. Sometimes I felt like McDaniel was being intentionally opaque, and while it was always beautiful, I occasionally lost interest. But that is just one picky complaint of an otherwise stirring novel. I'm glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Pedophilia, Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Car accident, Drug abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Abandonment, Child death, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Addiction, Terminal illness, and Violence

fredrikamarias's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Addiction, Pedophilia, Drug use, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Grief, Gore, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, and Sexism

uliel's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Drug use, Murder, Physical abuse, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Rape

glitteringeyes418's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Child death, Pedophilia, Drug use, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Murder

lizzidown's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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: Drug abuse, Addiction, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, and Pedophilia