Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

You Feel It Just Below the Ribs by Jeffrey Cranor, Janina Matthewson

9 reviews

hippievamp's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Body horror, War, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Torture

Moderate: Death, Child death, Mental illness, Death of parent, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Infertility, Grief, Gun violence, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic

gilroi's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

 Ultimately, this horror / dystopia / alt history severely pulls its punches with regard to the ending. It's barely spooky, barely horrific, and so light on the dystopian and alt-historical detail that the whole thing feels unsatisfying. The use of end notes to render unreliability and worldbuilding is pretty interesting, however.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, War, and Child death

Moderate: Gun violence and Violence

Starvation, family separation, child separation, prison abuse, fascism

cubbykay's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The Within the Wires series is principally built on unreliable narrators. Such is the nature of a universe where you do not have the freedom to keep your own memories. Even in cases such as Dr. Gregory that predate the Great Reckoning, this novel reminds us that memory is a fragile thing, warped by time and bias. This was an incredible way to flesh out the WtW universe in a way the limited format of a "found audio" podcast could not have delved into. I have some qualms about the footnotes shilling out a bit too much judgment for an organization interested in the preservation of history. But I've settled with the idea that it is a clumsy prod to the audience to not trust every voice, even those that claim to be neutral. Overall, stellar book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Medical trauma

Moderate: Child death and Pregnancy

Minor: Bullying, Gun violence, and Death of parent

catalyst226's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Incredibly compelling and unsettling and definitely one of my favorite reads this year. The story has both an unreliable narrator and biased framing that makes you question what is true.  Pulls in vibes of Parable of the Sower, The Giver, and just a little bit of The Handmaid's Tale (sans religious overtones). I'm very happy with the audiobook delivery and will likely purchase a physical copy because I enjoyed it so much. Highly recommend if you enjoy dystopian fiction.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Child death and Pregnancy

Minor: Gun violence

aileron's review

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Murder, Child death, and Torture

Moderate: Pregnancy, War, and Death of parent

Minor: Gun violence and Animal cruelty

indiarose8's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Overall I loved the story and premise. However it moves quite slowly from the beginning through the middle. It only really picks up three quarters of the way through but once it does, it's compelling! 

Really well written and gripping at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Medical trauma, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Gun violence, and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit, War, and Gaslighting

cheye13's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Torture, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, and Confinement

Minor: Gun violence and Gore

jazhandz's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, War, and Death

Moderate: Gun violence, Death of parent, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Pregnancy, and Medical trauma

nulliusmomenti's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War

Minor: Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Violence