Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Sundial by Catriona Ward

73 reviews

noemi_qu's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Violence, Addiction, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Trafficking

bittie_bee's review

challenging dark 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Animal death, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Miscarriage and Animal cruelty

Minor: Drug use

carl_still_reading's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

Sundial is a mixed bag for me. Whilst I enjoyed most of it, some parts didn’t work out for me during it. While I was hesitant whilst listening, by the end everything comes together and gives us a final shocking reveal. 

It explored toxic family dynamics really well and reminded me of Sharp Objects and the inspiration it draws from it. 

However I did find the flashbacks and Arrowood sections to be slow,weird and sometimes boring. Whilst I appreciated the explanation of Rob’s childhood, I wish the flashbacks were shortened down and the Arrowood sections taken out, as the story within a story didn’t really add anything to the main story it was trying to tell. 

Overall I did enjoy my time with Sundial and the ending definitely had me shook in typical Catriona Ward fashion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

livlamentloathe's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-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

4.0

Until Rob and Callie got to Sundial and the flashback story started, I thought this was going to be an ableist story about mental illness. But it’s not that simple. It’s twisty in an unpredictable way. There’s enough going on that I was tricked into not knowing what would happen next! I’m typically ahead of the twist and find myself disappointed to have been right. But book isn’t about “a twist.” It’s not even a multitude of twists, although kinda. It’s a whole lot of fucked up normality that stewed in the heated desert of Sundial until finally… you know.

This was a very long book, and I wasn’t interested at turns. I put Baby Teeth down for the very reasons I didn’t enjoy the start of Sundial. But this story swerved past the ease of mom and daughter dislike each other. It kept going and going and going. When you think you know the truth, there’s still more buried. And ya know, isn’t that just the way (of people)? We’re all more complex than what others see us as. Callie doesn’t know everything about Rob, and Rob doesn’t know everything that is Callie, or Jack, or even Annie. The only simple thing is Irving. Trust a man to be violent and predictable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Self harm, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Violence, Animal death, Infidelity, and Physical abuse

Minor: Death, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Murder

wperdue92's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Total mind f. I’m mad at myself for not seeing the ending. Serious book hangover now 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Animal death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Blood, and Animal cruelty

annie_reads_books's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Torture

Moderate: Drug use, Confinement, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Gore

asolis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Child death, Confinement, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Mental illness

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and Grief

audreyesp's review

dark emotional sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Gore, Violence, Racial slurs, Murder, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Torture, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Animal death, Physical abuse, Blood, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death

keen's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Murder

Minor: Drug abuse, Self harm, Trafficking, and Child death

thebiblioborrower's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, and Toxic relationship