Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Shutter by Ramona Emerson

15 reviews

leweylibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

1.5

It only gets points for the kind of fun setting and indigenous rep, sorry 🤷‍♀️ otherwise I kinda hated it lol.

I did not enjoy reading it, I had to force myself to finish it for a book club, and I had sooo many issues with it that completely took me out of the story. Like her awful friends wtf??? They were horrible and I really hope they weren't inspired by the author's real friends lol. What kind of friends automatically ask if you've murdered someone or destroyed your own apartment?? I wanted to like the supernatural element, and it was one of the few things keeping me interested, but there could've been so much more done with it. I felt like a lot of the conversations, situations, and relationships just made no sense. I truly don't know how this was long listed for the National Book Prize. Like how.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Gore, Gaslighting, Death, Grief, Blood, Murder, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug use, Colonisation, and Racism

Minor: Pedophilia, Medical content, and Sexual harassment

cjrayl's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? No

4.0

A mystery, fantasy/ghost driven, story with a strong background of native americans. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Deadnaming, Drug use, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia

vexatiousbird's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I wasn’t sure about this after the first chapter with its extremely detailed gore, but I’m glad I continued. We get the murder plot interwoven with chapters of Rita’s life growing up, her history with photography, ghosts, and death. I loved her heartfelt memories of her grandmother and her Navajo culture. The main plot isn’t particularly unique or gripping, but it all comes together into a great story. 

My main complaint was the ending felt kind of rushed and abrupt.

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol and Drug use

eicart_reads's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Car accident, Racism, Colonisation, and Grief

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Drug use, Animal death, Terminal illness, and Bullying

butilikeit's review against another edition

dark inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent and Toxic relationship

Minor: Drug use

awebofstories's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Car accident, Gun violence, Drug use, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Police brutality

sasisaskia's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Drug use

bzliz's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

This supernatural thriller is told through a split timeline: half in the present day where Rita is a crime scene photographer and half in the past where she is growing up on a Navajo reservation, fostering a talent for photography and meeting with spirits of the dead. A particularly tenacious ghost- Erma Singleton- keeps inviting harm upon Rita for apparently not working hard enough to bring about justice for her death. Even after Rita is suspended from her job, Erma relentlessly hounds and haunts her, and she starts to piece together the truth of what happened. 

I don’t really feel like I know Rita even after finishing the book. Photography seems to run in her blood- her mother and grandmother also were bit by the bug- but I have no clue if she has a passion for it or if she does it but she’s good at it. Part of me thinks her lack of personality is showing readers how drained she is by the ghosts who haunt her. 

The descriptions can get grisly, particularly right at the beginning and at the judge’s house. The action takes a big backseat until the last third of the book when it really pops off. I was a little surprised by the ending because

I really thought it would make sense for Rita to die after her prolonged exposure to violent spirits so she can finally be free of their interference but instead she is condemned to life, forever aware of the ghosts of the dead that surround her.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Violence, Medical content, Drug use, Body horror, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

mayhem9683's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Terminal illness, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Violence, Murder, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Gun violence, Alcohol, and Eating disorder

j_squaredd's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.0

I think they did a disservice by marketing this book as a thriller. It only gets fast paced and thriller-y in the last quarter. The first three quarters is quite slow with not a lot of plot.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Child death, Death, Murder, Gore, Gun violence, and Blood

Moderate: Alcohol, Racism, Car accident, Kidnapping, and Drug use