Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins

9 reviews

ofpagesandparagraphs's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Medical content, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, and Car accident

dmariefern's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

TRIGGER WARNING readers. I struggled to get into it. However I’m happy I kept at it. There were a lot of chafed gees and storylines to keep up with that at times got confusing however I did  truly enjoy it and read it fast after I got past the first few chapters.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Grief, Miscarriage, Bullying, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Body shaming, and Medical trauma

readingwithbec's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Self harm, Physical abuse, Death, Violence, Mental illness, Car accident, and Animal death

meliemelo's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.75

 Crime novels aren't known for their boundless optimism, but this one seemed especially bleak. While crafting very nuanced characters, Paula Hawkins did not care for making them likeable with the exception of Irene and, to a point, Laura. The "One who got away" chapters were an interesting enough idea but ended up being a bit repetitive and didn't bring much to the book in the end (and the end of that particular thread had me roll my eyes). Finally, I felt the book lacked tension and purpose beyond the "whodunnit", and even that didn't keep my interest up much.

It's not a bad crime novel, and there were definitely some very good ideas in there, but it definitely doesn't compare to the author's previous works. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child death, Car accident, Death, Dementia, Violence, Alcoholism, Incest, Kidnapping, Grief, Alcohol, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Body shaming, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual assault, Cursing, Infidelity, Rape, Miscarriage, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Death of parent

nadias_littlelibrary's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Sexual harassment, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexism

Minor: Animal death

thefictionalhevschwar's review against another edition

funny mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Dementia, and Rape

sleeson's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

3.25

My first Paula Hawkins book. I liked it. The narrator was great! Swearing. Not for teens. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Cursing, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Car accident, Alcohol, Violence, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

juci's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Normally I’m a slow reader, but I finished this book in a day and a half. Although, I’d say it’s medium-paced - at times slower while sometimes (especially towards the end) much more fast-paced.

The story is complex enough that it kept me engaged and interested in trying to figure out the mysteries and find the missing pieces by myself. Without giving any spoilers, I just want to say I appreciated that while some parts of the puzzle were easy to put together, there were a few twists throughout the book, even towards the very end, which caught me by surprise. In the end, I felt satisfied when everything finally clicked.

Most of the characters are quite unlikable in my opinion, but that feels intentional - they’re raw, imperfect, and complex. There aren’t clear “good” or “bad” characters, which I appreciate. It gives more depth and realness to the story.

I also like Hawkins’ writing style and found the nonlinear timeline (constantly jumping back and forth in time to tell the story) fitting for this novel. It’s funny that at one point one of the characters is reading another character’s book and criticizes this exact style of writing, saying
“Like the last one, that awful crime thing. Just start at the beginning, for God’s sake. Why couldn’t people just tell a story any longer, from start to finish?”
Then Hawkins proceeds to do that exact thing again, jumping back in time to give us another piece of the puzzle. This is just a small thing that stuck with me, but there are lots of small lines like that in the book, which I found pretty clever, and I thought they gave another layer to the novel.

All in all, an enjoyable read, and I’d definitely recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Murder, Child death, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, and Cursing

Minor: Incest

thebakerbookworm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

You probably know Paula Hawkins from The Girl on the Train fame, which I have to admit I wasn't a huge fan of. I don't really remember why as I read it a few years ago and didn't write myself a review, but I remember being disappointed and not getting all the hype. So I went into this one with a little trepidation. And thankfully I was pleasantly surprised!

First off, Rosamund Pike doing the narration was fantastic! I was captivated the whole time and I loved her different voices for the characters. I highly recommend going the audio route for this one!

Secondly, the characters, though not really likable, were interesting and succeeded in making me feel empathy for them, even if I was annoyed with their choices. Though I must say, they've all been through A LOT of trauma, so beware the content warnings. And I think most of them even got some nice development over the course of the story. Not a ton, but enough to where they look different by the end.

The mystery and plot were compelling enough to keep me reading. I managed to figure out some things, so I was a little disappointed that I wasn't very surprised by the ending, but I still liked how it wrapped things up for the most part. Overall, a really good quick thriller if you're looking for something to get lost in for a while.

Thanks so much to Libro.fm, Penguin Audio, and the author for my ALC!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, and Alcoholism

Minor: Dementia, Rape, and Animal death