Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift

6 reviews

fictionalsarah's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug use, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Death, Pregnancy, Addiction, Gore, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Vomit, Excrement, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

koplomps's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

Wow, just wow. The start of the book was hard but as I got used to the circumstances, it gor easier. After half-way through I didn't want to stop reading at all.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Vomit, Drug use, Gore, Medical content, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Child death, Infidelity, Excrement, Murder, Gun violence, Infertility, and Misogyny

Minor: Xenophobia

essjay's review against another edition

emotional funny sad fast-paced

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

4.5

I never would have picked this up based on the title and cover, both of which I feel do this book a disservice in getting it into the hands of people who will appreciate it. 

I don’t even really know how to talk about this, but I’m going to be thinking about it for a long time. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Vomit, Addiction, Grief, Drug abuse, Excrement, Abandonment, Blood, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Death, Medical trauma, and Suicidal thoughts

max63815's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Miscarriage, Suicide, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, and Infidelity

Moderate: Excrement and Vomit

Minor: Xenophobia, Gun violence, Bullying, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Animal cruelty

chia_ie's review against another edition

dark funny reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

this book was amazing. i loved it so so much. HOWEVER some parts were definitely hard to read, and i don’t know if i would’ve picked this book up if i was aware of the amount of gore in it.

there are some really distressing (and detailed) scenes including both animals and humans. the story being set in 2023 is also anxiety inducing, as we are still living through a pandemic. the idea of another one so soon, and it being more severe, is scary. 

i really enjoyed the main character. she felt very human. some people pointed out some inconsistencies in her character and the plot itself, but honestly if i ever did question anything, it was never significant enough to spoil the book for me

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Vomit, Addiction, Death of parent, Suicide, Drug abuse, Drug use, Body horror, Gore, Animal death, Death, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Murder, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Infidelity

Minor: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gun violence, Car accident, and Infertility

clacksee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

Last One at the Party presents the reader with a story that's essentially a hyperbole of our current reality. A pandemic sweeps the world unchecked by attempts to constrain it. But instead of leaving most people merely inconvenienced, 6DM kills everyone in its path. Almost everyone.

Spoiler

fewer than one in a million

survive it.

Our nameless heroine is pretty much the worst possible person to survive something like this. She's selfish, tedious, insipid. She wilfully condemns various helpless animals to death, acknowledging their desperation and then moving on. Not since Heathcliff and Catherine have I come across main characters I hated so intensely.

As we get to know her, we see she's been battling severe depression and crippling anxiety for years even before the pandemic. Add PTSD after the fact and, well, she doesn't cope well. But she definitely shows emotional growth over the course of the book – it just takes her a long, long, loooooong time to get there.

It reminded me a lot of Anne Corlett's The Space Between the Stars.

To be honest, I'm not certain whether I actually liked this book. For a solid 90% of it, I despised the main character. But I'll tell you what: I could not put it down. And I've got such a serious book hangover from it, that I haven't been able to get into another book since.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Infidelity, and Grief