Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

103 reviews

wombat's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The was a well written and well told story, I just wish I hadn’t subjected myself to the content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

whitneyonline's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Grief, and Death of parent

reading_binosaur's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book had so many twists and turns that you thought you knew everything, but you still had a million miles to go.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

lilifane's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

I'm conflicted. On the one hand, this is an extremely well-crafted book, the writing and plotting are exceptional, the character work is amazing, the story is intriguing and thrilling and emotional. But on the other hand, there are really graphic description of violence, rape, and torture. I was disgusted and sick to my stomach. But then again... that was probably the point. I mean, I would be worried if someone wasn't affected by reading those scenes. So if you consider reading this book, please look up the trigger and content warnings. There is a LOT. 

So, except for these scenes, I really enjoyed the book. There was actually a perfect balance of humor, emotions, mystery, and horror. The twists the story took gave me whiplash, and I was terrified for the characters. The thing that stood out to me the most were the family dynamics, though. Between parents and parents and their children, but especially between sisters. Those were so realistic and complicated, and I loved it. It reminded me so much of me and my siblings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

abbeyhuffine94's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I would check trigger warnings first and foremost. I don’t want to say I enjoy it, but I find Slaugher’s use of unflinching and shockingly brutal violence interesting and highly effective. This is the most sickeningly violent novel I’ve ever read that wasn’t essentially “torture porn” (ironically that is one of the main plot points of this novel, but rather than it being told as what the antagonist does to their victims, it is a thriller and the story unfolds as a mystery and epic of how the antagonists violence affects so many people). In other words the extreme violence is necessary to the plot but is not the plot itself.
This novel unravels a bit at a time and takes a deep dive into a family split by tragedy and reveals an antagonist that is the definitive manifestation of evil. I was shocked, like jaw dropping to the floor shocked, on several occasions. I even felt tears well up at certain parts of this book. I think it gives such a hard hitting account of grief, psychological agony, and unspeakable cruelty. You will feel as broken as the characters at some points - I think you feel their pain, hurt, confusion, and betrayal. The cruelty they suffer is bone chilling and stomach churning. I mean, seriously, how can someone do enjoy the suffering of innocent others as one of these characters does?
That all being said, I was devouring this novel, wanting to explain this mystery along with them and wanting to understand these horrible events. I mean it is shocking and you want to know who, what, how, WHY.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Suicide, Police brutality, and Car accident

traumaqueen's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

missmichalalynn's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

perplexed's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

2.25

Once again I'm coming in with a really torn review 

I will say now that there might be some spoilers in this review, and I'll flag them, but proceed with caution. Also TW: I reference SA and violence in this review

There were elements of this book I loved. The whole idea of "how well do you really know someone" is a trope I love to see explored, and this book started off doing that really well. I also really loved the main characters, Claire and Lydia, and part of the reason I finished the book was because I wanted to make sure they got out of their shenanigans okay.

I call it shenanigans because why wouldn't you get law enforcement involved, like surely if the FBI was there you'd be like hey so uh there's all this shit happening with my husband, here look at these videos, please help. Totally get the whole police and criminal corruption thing, but Fred Nolan was very obviously not involved with that (his interview with Claire later on in the book clearly showed this I think

 

That being said, so much of this book felt like gratuitous detail. I get that you want to make it clear how brutal something is, but you could get that without needing to graphically describe acts of SA and torture. I love body horror and gore, but the repeated graphic descriptions were *a lot* and I really recommend giving this book a skip if you're effected by any of the trigger warnings mentioned on these reviews. 

Also, shout out to the fact that either Claire or Karin Slaughter thinks that TOR is an illegal file sharing site. Very much legal, it's just a browser like Google Chrome but it doesn't track you, so I think TOR is actually the real good guy in this book. 

PS. Dad if you're reading this hello, please don't judge me for the books I've been reading recently, I've been on a kick of gross books ever since American Psycho but none seem to scratch the itch of violence with a message and they've all just landed on gratuitous violence instead :-( onto a Christmas romance novel next though so, bet you can't wait for that review! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

jadelorraine03's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

pretty graphic and very dark but very hard to put down. overall I genuinely enjoyed listening to it, waiting to find out what was to happen next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder

lycheejelly's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail