Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

House of Cotton by Monica Brashears

6 reviews

llams's review

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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? It's complicated
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elle_e_d_light's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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

It was a wonderfully written Southern Gothic, although I didn't actually like it very much. Everyone in this book is several layers of messed up. Everyone hurts each other—and gets hurt in return—because of their issues. It's a novel exploring black womanhood in regards to poverty, sexuality, and racism with a whole lot of macabre moments thrown in. 
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greenan26's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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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scottsmom's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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corriejn's review against another edition

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3.0

I guess this book is for some people, but not for me. I didn't mind the darker stuff, but found the story to be fairly slow-moving, many of the characters pretty flat and undeveloped, and the ending unsatisfying.

One thing I did not expect from the book synopsis is the amount of graphic sexual content, so just a heads up if that's not something you're looking for.
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rorikae's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • 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

4.75

 ‘House of Cotton’ by Monica Brashears is a haunting (both literally and figuratively) story about a young Black woman trying to find her way in life and the strange job she finds herself accepting. 
After her grandmother’s funeral, Magnolia is trying to figure out how to pay the rent on her grandmother’s house when a promising job opportunity drops in her lap. A white man named Cotton, who owns a funeral parlor, proposes Magnolia act as the dead family members of mourning families so they can get closure. The job pays well and so Magnolia accepts. But as the jobs get more and more strange and Magnolia begins to see her grandmother’s ghost, she starts to second guess her decision. 
Brashears’ writing is crisp and evocative. For the main characters in the story including Magnolia, Cotton, and Eden, she quickly conveys such a clear sense of their characters. They feel lived in, in all of the horrific and human ways. The job that Magnolia takes on is both a fascinating look at how people seek closure after a loved one’s death as well as a morbid take on how one funeral parlor makes money. There is a creeping sense of unease that permeates the book, especially as we learn more about Cotton and Eden. Ultimately, I think this is a fascinating character study with ghost elements. If you are looking for something a little bit unsettling but that does an excellent job of diving into the lived experience of the characters, this is a great book to pick up. I highly recommend the audiobook.  
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