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bxnnny's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Trafficking, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Violence, and Pregnancy
heathercahill's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, and Child abuse
erinbarton's review against another edition
1.5
while it is technically correct that some of the plot revolves around rob fearing her daughter callie, and her and callie travelling to their desert property, this is definitely not representative of the story. a more accurate description would be:
rob is trapped in a toxic marriage with her husband, irving. they have two young daughters, callie and annie. rob views annie as an angelic golden child, and struggles to connect to the precocious and seemingly troubled callie, who irving has manipulated to act out against rob. when rob fears callie wants to hurt her sister annie, rob takes callie to her childhood home in the desert, sundial, and recounts her traumatic childhood growing up and being raised by hippy parents who carried out scientific experiments on dogs.
i enjoyed the first 100 pages of this and was decently interested in the family dynamic and especially callie’s character. initially this was reminiscent of another family-centred psychological thriller which i had read and loved: sharp objects by gillian flynn. however, when the flashbacks to the past timeline began i really lost interest. the plot took such a bizarre turn and was from then on majority flashback of rob’s past. because of this, it quickly became clear that chapters from callie’s pov served no purpose other than to break up the super long account of rob’s past
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Miscarriage
thegayestghost's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Violence, and Animal death
Moderate: Addiction, Vomit, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Cursing, Gaslighting, Blood, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Death
racl's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Domestic abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Grief, Mental illness, Animal death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Self harm, Pregnancy, and Infidelity
Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use
elle_e_d_light's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
If I had to categorize this book, I'd say it best fits into Psychological Horror. Emphasis on the "horror". I won't say I enjoyed reading it—I hate animal cruelty—but I thought it was very well written and very good for the genre. I think I liked "Little Eve" a bit more than this, but that's because I loved the more gothic feel of it. I can't decide if I think this one is slightly better written. I liked "Little Eve" and "Sundial" far more than "Last House on Needless Street", which I didn't much care for. From the other reviews I've seen, it seems to be that the more someone likes "Needless Street", the less they like "Sundial" and vice versa.
While I thought this book was good, it's really not the type of book that one recommends to people. At least not without several content warnings.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug abuse and Medical content
Minor: Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, and Trafficking
Part of the plot deals heavily with the MKUltra experiments—specifically the remote controlled dogs part. It was animal cruelty of the highest order. But anyway, the animal cruelty and testing in this book is based off of real-life events.sunshinestark's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Domestic abuse, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Addiction, Child abuse, Murder, and Blood
rachelwierick's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Blood, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting
bookishloz's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Grief, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, Medical content, Death of parent, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Child death, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Cursing, Confinement, and Blood
spicycarl29's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.25
Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Mental illness, Death, Toxic relationship, and Cursing
Moderate: Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Gaslighting
Minor: Alcohol, Addiction, Miscarriage, and Mental illness