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poisonenvy's review
dark
medium-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
3.0
This is my second John Saul book, and the second John Saul book where I've been pleasantly surprised by the fact that they're not as bad as I thought they'd be. This book opens with the murder and SA of an 11 year old child, which made me very nervous about the content of the rest of the book, but it luckily comes up very little in the book itself and it's never treated voyeuristically, which occasionally happens with this.
I did side-eye, however, the man who beat his daughter so badly that she then suffered from life-long mental health issues and trauma so strong that it caused her to become mute, who was let off with a "oh you were drunk so it's okay ndb really the real victim here is you" sort of attitude.
Anyway, the book was fine. It was entertaining, though occasionally veered sharply in directions I was less than thrilled about. Overall, it was okay-ish.
I did side-eye, however, the man who beat his daughter so badly that she then suffered from life-long mental health issues and trauma so strong that it caused her to become mute, who was let off with a "oh you were drunk so it's okay ndb really the real victim here is you" sort of attitude.
Anyway, the book was fine. It was entertaining, though occasionally veered sharply in directions I was less than thrilled about. Overall, it was okay-ish.
charlie_woodchipper's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
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? It's complicated
4.5
Loved it!
Wish the ending hadn't been so abrupt
Poor Sarah :(
Also, hard to believe how everyone kind of let go, """forgive""", the fact that Jack beat his daughter to the point that she was in hospital for 3 months, and also wanted to rape her. People were too nice to Jack
Also fuck Sylvia. What a pick me. Imagine still having an affair with Jack after knowing the horrific things he done
Wish the ending hadn't been so abrupt
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, and Child death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Vomit
Minor: Grief, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Death of parent, and Suicide
pbraue13's review
3.0
John Saul is clearly a talented writer and knows how to spin a yarn. This book starts super atmospheric and engaging, luring you along a path that is riddled with dead children, family curses, and dark secrets. But I will say that after the first half of the book it lost its appeal a bit for me. I think perhaps because I'm someone reading this in the 2020s and this is a book written in the 70s? Or that I am just a sensitive person to these things? But this book got gratuitously gross and intense and almost exploitative. I know with books in the 70s of this nature that may be par for the course, but when it regards children (as the title suggests) and it is handled in a tactless way, seeking to titilate and shock the viewer, I want to put the book down and not return. It's what Stephen King would call a "gross out" horror novel, filled with gore and violence portrayed in exploitatively descriptive ways. Though the writing was initially so beautiful, it veered into a rushed hack-job towards the end (and not in the fun "hack-job" way these books usually go for). I would say if you want an atmospheric and deeply upsetting book about child abuse and murder and don't care about the problematic aspects, here you go. If not I think you should read something that handles the topic in a tactful way.
stephanieanneauthor's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
3.0
I thought this story was just okay until I got about a third of the way in - then the really dark stuff started to happen. Later in the book, when I thought things couldn't get any worse, they did! Although the family / community drama at the heart of the story was good, those messed up moments in the cave stole the show. Unfortunately, despite some good scenes, the last few chapters of the book felt like a long, drawn out epilogue. That being said, I was satisfied by the hopelessness of the ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Torture, Child death, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, and Emotional abuse
trash_candra's review
4.0
Suffer the Children is a spooky and painfully relatable tale. Scarier than the missing children, the book tackles subjects like rape, abuse, and trauma and how it can destroy relationships and even people.
Spoiler
Suffer the children ends on a hauntingly dissatisfying note, which further illustrates the theme that suffering never stops or even makes sense. We never recover, we just get better at hiding the pain.alexandrabree's review
4.0
While I really enjoyed this book. The atmosphere was very creepy. It had the perfect haunted house/eerie/ melancholy vibes for me. The characters read like real people (I think specifically of Jaws, Benchley, and Stephen King's early works)
But I was also very confused for most of the book, I thought it would all be resolved as things were revealed, part of the mystery, but it really didn't.
I must have missed something somewhere, but even going back and rereading the beginning didn't clarify things up... I eventually looked up what was going on but I had come to some very twisted (and as it turns out mostly wrong conclusions) that the father was molesting both of his daughters, that this had also happened to other Conger girls in the past I was unsure if the macabre ending was the result of a ghost/possesion/Haunting or something stemming from the trauma of the molestation. I never did figure out if we were supposed to believe in ghosts or insanity (a-la head full of ghosts, Trembley), the tea party seance was great to read about but never did figure out what it was really..
Update : After reading other Saul books, he obviously has a bit of a template he follows, and the very vague, meandering, open-ended method of storytelling he uses is almost hyper stylized to him. While it's not bad reading, it is not exactly good storytelling either.
But I was also very confused for most of the book, I thought it would all be resolved as things were revealed, part of the mystery, but it really didn't.
I must have missed something somewhere, but even going back and rereading the beginning didn't clarify things up... I eventually looked up what was going on but I had come to some very twisted (and as it turns out mostly wrong conclusions) that the father was molesting both of his daughters, that this had also happened to other Conger girls in the past I was unsure if the macabre ending was the result of a ghost/possesion/Haunting or something stemming from the trauma of the molestation. I never did figure out if we were supposed to believe in ghosts or insanity (a-la head full of ghosts, Trembley), the tea party seance was great to read about but never did figure out what it was really..
Update : After reading other Saul books, he obviously has a bit of a template he follows, and the very vague, meandering, open-ended method of storytelling he uses is almost hyper stylized to him. While it's not bad reading, it is not exactly good storytelling either.