Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

20 reviews

msbedelia's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Death

perkyanda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-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? Yes

3.75

Really interesting way of playing with format and structure, interesting characters and take on writing and authors. At times the

repetition/recursion

gets tedious and teasing out

the actual narrative gets meh

but overall it’s an enjoyable read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Homophobia

zosiablue's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

"Being old kind of takes the magic out of things....it's sad. But also a relief."

This is about trying to write your way out of tremendous grief and it is beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

Minor: Bullying and Pregnancy

gondorgirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death of parent, Medical content, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Grief, Violence, Death, and Gore

Minor: Bullying, Pregnancy, and Animal death

uchihas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was a ride. The ending was a little disappointing though 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Vomit, Homophobia, Medical content, Bullying, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Abortion, Animal cruelty, and Sexual content

kkalicky94's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Death of parent, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, and Self harm

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

This is like the perfect summer horror novel. You have sun, sand, sea and tumultuous summer friendships.

Catriona Ward captures the immersive depths and fear that can come with the unknown ocean depths like no other author I’ve read. I’d say it’s a great beach read, but maybe not for those who have a touch of thalassophobia.

The first half of the novel had me obsessed. I loved Wilder’s perspective and the atmosphere Catriona Ward created, moving from the New England coast to dark academia and back. Unfortunately, from the 50-80% mark, the storytelling got quite confusing, trying to figure out who’s who, what’s real and what’s not, random time skips, and shoehorned in POVs, which left me feeling discombobulated. And I won’t get into any spoilers, but I have to say I hated the ending, I thought it was such a cop-out.

Thanks so much Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for this advanced listening copy! I’d recommend this one, even given the parts I didn’t love, and it’s still a 4⭐️ read for me!

Overall, if you’re looking for a gothic horror read with a summer setting to cap off your August and get you ready for that September academic vibe, this is the one for you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Grief, Kidnapping, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, and Violence

Minor: Abortion, Sexual content, Bullying, and Cursing

savvylit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-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

4.0

Catriona Ward is an expert at intricate and difficult-to-guess plots. Looking Glass Sound is no exception. In fact, this may be Ward's most layered and mysterious novel yet. Looking Glass Sound features several distinct and immersive perspectives. Ultimately, though, Wilder's youthful point of view is the one that readers spend the most time with. And his characterization is unparalleled. Wilder's outsider status is painfully palpable; I often felt as though I could have been reading one of my own teenage diaries.

For a significant portion of Looking Glass Sound, I was wary about the length (352 pages). I found myself getting so invested in one narrative that I couldn't imagine what Ward would do next. Luckily, I decided to trust the process and eventually, it was all tied together in a surprising way - just like I'd hoped. This is the fourth book of Ward's that I have read and I have come to expect character-driven unsettling tales that burn slowly and conclude in an explosive way. Looking Glass Sound definitely met those expectations! I can't wait to see what Ward publishes next.

Thank you @netgalley @tornightfire and @catward66 for the advanced copy of Looking Glass Sound in exchange for my honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Death, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying

roguepages's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Panic attacks/disorders

rhiannonafternoon's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I've never finished a book and wanted to go back and reread it immediately, but this one nailed it. Once I found out how it ended, I wanted to go back and see everything through that lens. Who do stories truly belong to? Who is the villain here (besides the serial killer)? Ward kept me intrigued and questioning every page with her mysterious writing. This is a great summer getaway thriller.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Abandonment, Stalking, and Toxic friendship