Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold

9 reviews

bookwyrmsam's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

There were some things I greatly enjoyed about this book, particularly the prose. Arnold's writing is stunning and I definitely want to read more of her work in the future.  I do have some complicated thoughts about the ways sensitive subject matter was handled and the theming of the book, but I do not agree with reviewers who felt Arnold was suggesting violence is the only answer to misogynist abuses of power, in fact her characters directly oppose this idea on multiple occasions. I do think this book is not for the faint of heart. If body descriptions and gore make you uncomfortable you might need to take your time with this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Murder, Body horror, Blood, and Bullying

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Death of parent

bbygirl21's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I'm not used to this pov style and the ending seemed really abrupt, I wish they was a little bit more to this story, but I really enjoyed this book. I love the four female characters Meme, Bisou, Maggie, and Keisha. I love how strong and brave they each are whether they are/were a wolf hunter or not. 

I think Sybil's (Meme) story was tragic and sad. I really liked her husband Garland until what he eventually did when he found out what she is. He was a really sweet character and even though I understand his reaction in a way I wish he would have understood everything and stayed. 

Bisou's boyfriend James was also really great. I love how supportive and protective he is of Bisou even while not knowing what Bisou is. 

I wouldn't loved to see more about Maggie's stalker and maybe figuring out who he is and whether or not he is who is suspected in the book or someone else.

I would've also looked to know who this self proclaimed incel is who sent several letters to Keisha to be published in the schools newspaper. And I would've liked to know if Maggie's stalker and Keisha's random letter sender are the same person.

So obviously that's plenty of questions that went unanswered, the ending being quite abrupt, and the pov style not being one I'm used to all are what brought my rating down. But I did enjoy the story. I loved how the book deals with a lot of women's issues and how they impact women.

I do suggest looking into the trigger warnings if you're looking into possibly reading this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Murder, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Infidelity, Rape, and Domestic abuse

amber_author's review

dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

This book is very odd. It is very feminist and speaks of bodily functions including mensturation a lot. There are far too many events that occur in this book, any one of them could have easily been their own book. Nearly the entire book is written in 2nd person which was definitely different. I didn’t like the 75 page section from an altered point of view. I found it too long and nearly unnecessary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Murder, Abortion, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

caitlink's review against another edition

Writing sex between minors even though the author was most likely an adult when writing this seems weird. At least make them college age(chapter 1) Talks about said sex and the girl’s body in chapter 3 - writer is weird Constantly bringing up that this 16 year girl is naked(chapter 2) Sexual assault between minors and no one does anyone - are there no cameras in the school? Lot of talk of breasts

• Don’t like the use of “you” a bunch. Like you’re the reader/didn't like the writing style

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Moderate: Murder

directorpurry's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Rape, and Abortion

Minor: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse

stressejesse's review against another edition

adventurous dark

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Violence, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Death, Blood, and Misogyny

Minor: Abortion and Alcohol

malloryfitz's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Violence, and Misogyny

Moderate: Abortion, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Pregnancy

nirelocin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

kimmiesaurus's review against another edition

dark hopeful fast-paced

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

3.25

This book is a retelling of Red Riding hood in that it involves a grandma, a granddaughter, and wolves who hunt. Beyond that, the story functions relatively independently of the classic fairy tale. The story is set in modern times and follows Bisou as she attends high school. As she reaches her time of the month, she notices she is more in tune with her senses and encounters odd happenings around the town. 

I liked this book well enough, but found the writing to be a bit cumbersome and repetitive. The wolves are a thinly veiled metaphor for the monsters people are in the real world. I don't think this detracts from the story, and it is meant to be fairly on the nose. It just means the book itself is not very complicated. We do see some character development between the friend group, but this relies mostly on plot and on the social statement it is making. The story was fairly predictable throughout and I was able to finish the book in less than a day. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content