Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

88 reviews

readerette's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.5

For the first half of the book, I was gripped: I wanted to know if the apocalypse was really coming, if the 'invaders' were deluded or not, if Eric and Andrew would believe them, and how the experience would change Wen.

The second half of the book felt to me more like an intellectual exercise/commentary on the mindset of extremists and people in extreme situations than a human story to really place the reader in the room with the characters.

Wen's death is the inflection point. It took away everything that made the story compelling, even though in my opinion, it didn't have to. It perhaps revealed the other characters as one-dimensional even when they hadn't started out that way. The ending landed with a bit of a thunk for me too; it seems the reason that they decide not to die is what Sabrina kept saying, that any god who demanded this kind of sacrifice wasn't worth obeying, even if the sacrifice would save the world. Which... Yeah, I agree in principle. But given all the context shared in the story, could I agree in practice?

I do wonder if part of the intent of the story is to reveal to you, the reader, your tendency to bow to the sort of info that Leonard and the others shared with Wen's family, so that you can reflect on whether you bow too readily or not readily enough.

In my opinion, you get just enough information to not really be sure one way or the other, so that you just have to go with your gut, like the characters do. Whether their gut makes sense is another story.

If you are a parent, particularly of a still-young child, this may not be a book for you unless you have a high tolerance for darkness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Gun violence, and Cursing

Minor: Vomit and Pandemic/Epidemic

bethboo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Don't look at my Content Warnings because they have major spoilers.

I feel like I probably should have had a better grip on what this book was about before I began reading it. That's a mistake I seem to make pretty often. I went into this book expecting a horror book, based on the title and the original cover (which is an abstract red, classic scary book look). There were definitely horror elements based on the premise alone. 

A lively family visits a cabin in the middle of nowhere for a getaway, but four people armed with twisted tools force their way into their temporary abode and give them an ultimatum: Choose one of your family to sacrifice to stop the impending apocalypse or the world will end. 

It was creepy and violent and contradictory, which was fascinating. My main desire the entire read was whether or not this "apocalypse" was actually real in the world of this book. I wanted to know the answer so badly, I thought I was going to crawl out of my own skin. 
But, in warning, this book is tragic. Nothing good happens to this family, which should be a given, but I was caught off guard by how many tears I shed for this book. 
 

I really liked how everyone kept on repeating how they were just an everyday person but then the visions and the sameness. I knew from the second Andrew came back into the cabin with the gun that something bad was going to happen to Wen. I was fucking devastated. I cried when it happened and then Leonard's POV was so good with his confusion and regret. Eric losing it and Andrew trying to keep it together. Oh gods it hurt. 
The ending? Oh fuck the ending. I was SOBBING. I was listening to the book while doing my makeup and I had to redo my eyes. How they spoke to each other and held each other and loved each other despite everything, because of everything. Fuck, I'm tearing up right now. Shit, this book got me good. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Religious bigotry

a_novel_craving's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Blood, Child death, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Murder, and Death

adelinebal4'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Child death, and Suicide

kkalicky94's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, Body horror, Child death, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Blood, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

nyquilcryptid's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, and Hate crime

physicalsecrets's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Hate crime, Vomit, Confinement, Child abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Grief, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Murder, Child death, Excrement, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Death, and Torture

itsalina's review against another edition

challenging 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Child death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Hate crime, Grief, Toxic friendship, Suicide, and Violence

owlribbon's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Gore, Homophobia, Hate crime, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Blood

savvylit's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.0

Billed as horror, The Cabin at the End of the World is indeed very horrifying. The home invasion narrative is deeply disturbing and the story is absolutely loaded with gore. However, I'd say that this story is less of a horror novel and more of a pure thriller. It has all of the hallmarks of a good thriller. The Cabin at the End of the World is mysterious, perfectly paced, cinematic, and page-turning. I couldn't put this book down even as I was increasingly uncomfortable with the violence and gore.

Overall, this book has been divisive - it seems that many folks either enjoy it or don't. Much of the dislike seems to be geared towards the ambiguity woven throughout this thriller, particularly at the ending. Personally, I think the ambiguity is what makes this novel work so well. Being kept in the dark about key elements of the story is what makes this story so scary. Violence without a knowable purpose is perhaps one of the most terrifying things that a human can experience.

I'd highly recommend this to thriller fans who don't mind gory descriptions. If you're squeamish at all, I'd say you will probably want to skip this novel. (Be sure to check the content warnings!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia

Although at first I hated that Wen died, I think it was a great authorial choice. How truly terrifying!