Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

57 reviews

librarianmage's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

A fascinating gem of an idea hampered by its ending

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Murder, and Toxic relationship

massivepizzacrust's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I was excited to see the author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell published something new and I was not disappointed! I pretty much devoured this over the course of two days. I think you're best off going into this book knowing as little as possible so I won't talk about plot. But the dark academia vibes are strong and I have a lot of love for the main character. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Vomit

Minor: Gun violence, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic relationship

Not really sure what the right tags for this book are, the main character is being manipulated and there are descriptions of things that have happened to other people in the past.

meg_elyse's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Dementia, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

veeronald's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, and Gun violence

pat's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

4.5

As per my usual style, I didn’t even read the blurb of this book before diving in, so I had no idea what to expect. My only presumption was it would be set in a time of myths and gods, based on the cover. That was a fair way off the mark.

But it was wonderfully, intriguingly odd. I might not be entirely satisfied with the ending, but that might be because I want to hear more of what happens next. However, I suspect it also finishes at the right point.

Also: I’d love to see a TV adaption of this - perhaps an episode per chapter.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Sexual assault and Death

iviarelle's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

I really enjoyed this, and I have a feeling it's gonna stick with me a long while.

This book does an incredible job making the fantastical seem mundane. The House is simply Piranesi's home, his World, his entire existence... of course it's mundane to him. It's a really neat contrasting effect against just how magical and unreal the House would be to us.

And that's not even touching the mysteries and conflicts at the heart of the story. Piranesi has to discover the truth of the House, and why he's here and remembers nothing but the House, no matter how much he wants to avoid it. The mystery was gripping, and while I felt I had a decent grasp of it well before the halfway mark, the journey to the end was still very enjoyable, if you can say that for such a dark series of events.

Also, the very last pages, wherein

the Mark Rose Sorensen that is also Piranesi and the original Mark Rose Sorensen, discovers that the statues exist in the "other world" as real, living people

is fantastic. A perfect capstone, although I could've done without the weirdly shoehorned in fatphobia as he reflects on his journey, so watch out for that. It's so blatant, and right there at the end where it'll be noticed and remembered so well, that I can't help but remove part of a star for it. It really removes the shine from an otherwise incredible read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Dementia, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

Moderate: Gun violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Body shaming and Fatphobia

gdpaters's review

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Slavery

water_violin's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a very interesting story... if you are considering reading it, I recommend going into it without expectations. Although there are some content warnings that are worth looking at if there are certain story elements that are triggering. Overall, this is a fascinating, somewhat cerebral read and I do recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Murder

imrath's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, and Death

mscalls's review

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Cursing