Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Das Labyrinth des Fauns by Guillermo del Toro, Cornelia Funke

7 reviews

kaziaroo's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I'm going to put this one down as "not for me". The fairytale style of writing grated on and frustrated me, as I constantly wanted more detail and depth but instead the narrative just glossed over descriptions and interspersed them with pretty platitudes. It felt like the author's only input in adapting the film for the page was to explain all the metaphors and leave nothing to the reader to deduce by themselves – for example: "The music Vidal listened to was playful and strangely different from the razor and the boots. It gave away that cruelty and death were a dance for him" (p. 56). It was as if the author thought they were writing for a child and needed to explain everything, but at the same time the book showed scenes of torture and death that are definitely not suitable for children.

The adult characters were well drawn but mostly one-dimensional. Oddly, the realistic scenes with Vidal and Carmen were much more impactful than the fantastical scenes with the Faun and the Pale Man. I've only seen clips of the film it's inspired by but I get the impression that the fantasy scenes that would have been chilling or even scary in the film were almost boring in the book. 

I went in not knowing much about either the book or film and wasn't expecting so much direct portrayal of real-life war and fascism; judging from the cover (which has an image of Ofelia serenely hugging the Faun), I was expecting the fantasy to be more important to the main story rather than a series of possibly-imagined side quests that distract Ofelia from the awful events of her wartime life. I almost feel like the book shouldn't really be shelved in the fantasy section for that reason.

Overall, I was disappointed by this and would have DNFed if it had been any longer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Toxic relationship, Torture, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Confinement, Death of parent, Child death, Gun violence, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Miscarriage, Genocide, Gore, War, and Drug use

Minor: Alcohol and Rape

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is one of my favorite movies so I was excited to see it in book form. Love the cover! It's dark and beautiful just like the film. This is a great companion novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Violence, Misogyny, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Torture, Blood, Grief, War, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Gore and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism, Abortion, Vomit, Child abuse, and Cursing

readingduckling's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I don't think, that I would have bought this book under normal circumstances, because I'm not big on horror/thriller story's. But I found this book, a bit beat up for one euro, and because I recognised the Author and liked the artwork, I decided to buy it anyway. And I am so glad, that I bought it, because the book was amazing. 
I know the book is connected to the movie pan's Labyrinth but I can't compare it to one another, because I can't watch horror movies. But the book is also amazing as a standalone. 
It's the story of a young girl in Spain douring the 2. World war. She and her extremely pregnant mother move in with her mother's new husband. Who is a very sadistic person, he isnt interested in his new wife, let alone her daughter, he is just interested in the baby she is growing. His child. 
The girl, Ofelia, is learning in the beginning of the book, that she is the princess of the underworld, who went missing many many years ago. 
Now she has to complete 3 challenges to come back. 
The book is incredibly well written. And filled with literary pictures, real pictures, emotions and so much more. I was a little bit sad about how much time I needed to read this book, would have preferred to just read it in one sitting it was certainly interesting enough to do that. But the book was also in parts triggering, so I needed breaks to process it. 
But I really loved this book and the messages especially the anti fashist one. It's so important to keep in mind how bad right wing politics are. 
The book is brilliantly written all characters who are ment to be likable are very likable and the villans in the story are not. 
It's definitely a book I will some day reread.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Torture, Murder, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Gun violence, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: War

luumii's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Grief, Torture, Emotional abuse, Genocide, War, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death, Blood, and Toxic relationship

naiu_cs's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

While I really enjoyed this book, because it was indeed a very exciting anf yet easy read, I do not think that it is actually suited for the targeted age group.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Murder, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, and Grief

ts_anne13's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Minor: Rape

winterteufel's review

challenging dark sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, and War