Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Discomfort of Evening by Lucas Rijneveld

94 reviews

floorw25's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Self harm, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Racism, Incest, Eating disorder, Death, Child death, Suicide, Grief, and Emotional abuse

janethevirgin46's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This book was weird. Wildly uncomfortable if not absolutely disgusting. The themes made me nauseous and certain scenes made me put the book down for a bit. Besides the content of the book, I felt some wording was off. It might have been the translation I got but you could tell it was their first novel. It had too many metaphors and similes, it got to feel repetitive. It’s an ok book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Death, Abandonment, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicide, Incest, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Excrement, and Mental illness

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Animal death

bridrew's review

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Death, Excrement, Eating disorder, Child death, Animal death, Grief, Torture, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death of parent and Pedophilia

melissaroos's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The book made me uncomfortable, true to it's title. But I somehow did kind of like it. The writing style sucks you into the book and you do want to know what the characters will do. It's not for the faint of heart

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Eating disorder, Gore, Grief, Death, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Suicide, Mental illness, Child abuse, Self harm, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Incest

maya7's review

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, Excrement, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, and Animal death

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, and Suicidal thoughts

inceptionistbooks's review

dark sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

“Sadness doesn’t grow, only the space it takes up” 

Well, the title fits. It really isn’t a fun read, please take care and look at the trigger warnings beforehand! I’m not even sure that I got all of them below. 

If you hate questionable characters, this is not a book for you. The characters here are grieving and have found no way of working through that grief in a healthy way. So we see a family breaking further apart (because the issues were there before the loss) and Jas, the narrator, is consumed by her own grief and her own thoughts. It’s so clear that she has so much that she wants to talk about with someone who will hear it but no way of knowing how to or with whom. Her inner monologue has these moments which are almost heart-breaking in their simplicity but clearly show that she is barely holding it together (because she’s a child with no emotional support whatsoever). Her being constipated really is just an analogy for the fact that keeping shit in will just make things worse. Yes, it’s a major thing in the book and it is gross about it, so be aware of that as well. 

I’m very unsure how necessary certain elements were since I have the impression that it would have worked even if they weren’t included. I also wasn’t happy with the ending since it left you just feeling worse with no hope in sight. But I can’t necessary fault the author for going this route. 

This is one of those books that I could analyse to pieces because it is certainly well thought out but I would have to reread it and that won’t happen any time soon. This is HEAVY and I need something fun after this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Excrement, Incest, Animal death, Child abuse, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Toxic relationship, Death, Eating disorder, and Pedophilia

hotgirleliott's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, and Incest

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Animal death, Child death, Excrement, Incest, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcohol

lucy_junor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

3.5

“We find ourselves in loss and we are who we are - vulnerable beings, like stripped starling chicks that fall naked from their nests and hope they’ll be picked up again.” 

A truly heart-wrenching portrayal of death and grief through the eyes of a child. While many parts of this book made me very uncomfortable I also found something very relatable and honest in Jas’ rationalisation of what was happening to her family, as well as her desire to single-handedly fix her parents relationship and become one with her siblings again.

I also sympathised with Jas’ need to find justification in what’s happening to her as she grows up and adapts to the ever changing dynamics in her family and community - I think that’s something everyone can understand at a personal level in one way or another.

This novel does a beautiful job at showing how our relationship with grief is not linear but rather something that follows us throughout our lives like a shadow, effecting everything we think, do, and become.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Incest, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Violence, Mental illness, and Self harm

graviereads's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

EXTREMELY vivid imagery. Gross. Emphasis on discomfort. Disgusting but not in a fun way. Interesting read but highly cringe

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Animal death, Self harm, Sexual content, and Incest

Moderate: Child abuse, Vomit, Suicide, Eating disorder, and Suicide attempt