Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

63 reviews

emilyswift's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

It is very easy to get through quickly! It is quite unfortunate that I was able to guess exactly what would happen within the first 100 pages but obviously some things came as a slight shock. Nonetheless, it was still a good read and definitely intriguing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Rape

hayjanes's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, and Mental illness

kjm_x's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism

boredarchivist's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.0

If I wasn't a completionist, I would  not have finished this book. The characters were not fleshed out as much as I would like and I didn't find the concept as interesting as I thought I would. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

maekay's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I found this book really underwhelming and the ending really disappointing. I felt like the plot

had so much unnecessary abuse, of both the children and the women/disabled father

and the ending

was super rushed and tied everything up in neat bow, despite the fact two of the children committed willful murder and the other two apparently conveniently forgot about the baby

. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

kelseyr713's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Loved this twisty thriller. Not many loose threads left at the end, but enough for a final twist of the knife. I made a few predictions while reading and none of them were correct! I would be curious about a sequel, I think there’s certainly enough here for one.

Reread in 2022 before reading the sequel, yay!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, and Alcohol

amcghig's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

lemerrier's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Murder

avadore's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious fast-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

3.75

Raced through the audiobook and was worried it was all being wrapped up a bit too neatly until that bloody cliff hanger ending! No idea if there will be a sequel but I would definitely jump back into these characters lives given the chance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Death, and Drug use

The descriptions of the diet of the residents of the Chelsea house might be challenging to some people, it is not talked about it terms of eating disorder but its a really restrictive diet that includes discussion about the purity of certain foods.

mani's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Miscarriage