Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Elektra by Jennifer Saint

4 reviews

vnfhcxksiw's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Slavery, Toxic relationship, War, Toxic friendship, Violence, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Genocide, Infidelity, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Sexual violence, and Torture

nicnevin's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

Good story but I feel like the titular character honestly didn't have much to do with her own story, especially since the more interesting aspects were with Cassandra and Clydemnestra.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Drug use, War, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexism, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Xenophobia, Violence, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Blood, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Classism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

kaitlyng's review

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, War, Blood, Grief, Death, Violence, and Infidelity

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Child death, Animal death, and Cannibalism

Minor: Misogyny, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

amelianotthepilot's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

A retelling of the greek myth of the Trojan War focusing on Cassandra (seer and daughter of the king of Troy), Clytemnestra (Queen of Sparta, wife of Agamemmnon), and Elektra (daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemmnon). However the characters voices were all very similar which made it confusing between chapters.

Yet again I'm unimpressed with these retellings. I love greek mythology so much that I will read anything involving it but these retellings are really lacking for me. It's something with how the author depicts women.

It was a feminist retelling, highlighting the struggles the women had to endure and the unfairness of society but it also seemed like a dated feminist view. The women were powerless and trapped in their gender roles but it seemed like the author was content with that. I think a gender essay could definitely be written about the representation in this story which at least highlights the women's stories who were often overlooked but it really fell flat for me. There also could have been a lot more queer representation, especially since ancient Rome and Greece were known for having lots of queer relationships.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Rape, Pregnancy, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Grief, Violence, Sexism, Medical trauma, Suicide, Sexual assault, Death, and Child death