Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Good House by Tananarive Due

12 reviews

awebofstories's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Excrement, Gore, Death of parent, Murder, Rape, Blood, Dementia, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Drug abuse, Animal death, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

cass_lit's review against another edition

4.25

Buckle up, because this is a long review (for a long book). 

Overall, I really liked this. It was chilly and atmospheric, the perfect amount of haunted house creepy in my opinion. As much as I wanted to keep reading, I’d have to put it away at night because I didn’t want to risk nightmares. It’s a long book — 600 pages/22 hours — but I never felt like it was dragging. There were a few points where I’d wonder how we had so much left when it felt like we were so close to figuring it out, but then another twist would appear and I’d forget I’d questioned anything. I loved the twists too; they never felt forced or too unbelievable and they kept me on my toes the whole time. I loved the haunted house, I loved the underlying voodoo aspects, and I loved rooting for Angie and her family. I was shocked from the start with what happens to Corey and the shocks kept coming as we pieced everything together. I also personally loved the ending, because I’m a sucker for that. 

However, I do have some complaints that kept this from being *my* perfect horror and that I think are worth alerting others on. First, Myles was SO close to perfect. I was rooting for him. But you do not have sex with people who are asleep. I don’t care if you had consensual sex the night before. I hated that scene and how it was presented as him still loving her and it completely turned me off of him. My second issue has to do with the numerous trigger warnings. I get that most of these are expected in a horror book, but I hate that. I’d love a mystery/thriller/horror that *doesn’t* rely on homophobia to be scary if written by a straight person. Just like I don’t want one relying on racism to be written by a white person, because those are real horrors and if you’re not the targeted community, I don’t think you should be sensationalizing them. There’s homophobic language and plot lines that aren’t necessary, as well as use of the r-word. I will clarify that this book was originally published in the early 2000s though and while it does not excuse the language, it may no longer reflect the way Tananarive Due writes. Tariq and Corey’s inner monologues almost justifying domestic abuse also just made me feel icky. 

Other trigger warnings include suicide, death of a child, animal cruelty, blood/gore, sexual assault and rape (including of a 13 year old girl), homophobia, racism, ableism, domestic abuse. 

There’s also some discussion into the indigenous history of the setting, although I can’t speak to the accuracy of the representation. 

Overall, I will absolutely be reading more Tananarive Due and I’m especially excited to dive into more of her more recent work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Rape, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Racism, Homophobia, and Racial slurs

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, and Death of parent

talonsontypewriters'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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Murder, Child death, Racism, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Animal death, Misogyny, Car accident, Dementia, Death of parent, Rape, Domestic abuse, Gore, Drug use, Hate crime, Medical content, and Sexism

Minor: Pedophilia, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Excrement, Ableism, Alcohol, Incest, Miscarriage, Slavery, and Vomit

Passing use of F and R slurs.

melodyseestrees'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

Parts of this story really dragged or they really rushed. The ending was arguably the strongest part of the story and also the most enjoyably paced. Other parts felt like the supernatural element was breaking its own rules. The nastiness can infect anyone who leaves a piece of them in this specific location. But it only infected about five characters including one person who was nowhere near anyone else. That one person got more infected than anybody else and murdered someone tangentially connected to the main characters. Thankfully the dog either did not die or the death was not described, which is a rare mercy in horror fiction. The horses also did not experience any on-page tragedy. There are references to needing chicken blood and paper made from the vagina of an animal. 
There was a dark spot that I didn't appreciate reading. It was where a character faked, and later admitted to doing so, a sexual assault between themselves and an antagonist solely to get one of the main characters to act with violence. I just don't think "fake sexual assault" is a scene that is needed in literature published after the 1990's.
This story is somewhat effective in the 'gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss' nature of horror stories.

You spend most of the story wondering if the Big Bad got Corey and you find out in chapter 33 that Corey committed suicide to prevent the Big Bad from getting what they wanted. "With all his strength, Corey Toussaint Hill won his last fight.

Two sets of characters have whirlwind relationships that end, of course, tragically. It feels a bit cheap and scripted to do it twice in the story and I am a bit resentful of how one of the relationships is ended. The ending of that relationship is action-packed but very quick

Myles is watching over Angela while she does a ritual and tries to defend her against Tariq. Myles is shot once in the body and finished off with a gunshot to the head, presumably.

It was a cheap way to include a "strip the main character of all hope" moment. 
The last two chapters threw me for a loop at first.

The ending is Angela's ancestors giving her a miracle. It is not stated what the miracle is but the final chapters show Corey, Sean, and Angela breaking the curse and banishing the Big Bad. Then the party on July 4th proceeds as planned, with fireworks, dancing, and merriment. Angela decides that she no longer has feelings for Tariq and will proceed with the divorce. Angela and Myles promise to keep in touch. Therefore the miracle is making it so the violence from the Big Bad never happened.

It is a unique way to wrap up a story and one that can often feel very cheap. With this specific story it felt welcome. It almost felt like walking into your childhood home, but the one of your memories and not the actual building. These last two chapters were the most effective for me as a reader. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, and Gun violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Dementia, Car accident, Animal death, Sexual content, Drug use, Infidelity, and Bullying

boujeebookworm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was long and drawn out for no reason. Then I get to end and it could’ve all never happened?! Omg I hate I wasted my time with this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Pedophilia

littlelili1320's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I love this book  I wasn't expecting the ending, It is a bit slow at times, but it reminds me of Stephen King where he tends to have parts that drag but if it was cut you wouldn't know the characters nearly as well. It also reminds me of King because some repetition could have been cut lol.  I would have liked more of Marie's timeline, but overall the timeline & character jumping was enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Child death, Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Racism, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Addiction, and Racial slurs

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

5.0

I cannot overstate how wonderful this book is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Hate crime, Death, Child death, Bullying, Violence, Gun violence, Blood, Sexual content, Racism, Torture, Racial slurs, Suicide, Cursing, Gore, Animal death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Murder, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Fatphobia, Rape, Car accident, Alcohol, Vomit, Dementia, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Drug use

Minor: Slavery, Colonisation, and Police brutality

Incarceration

cassilynn's review against another edition

emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

at end. This is a long book, with audio narrative at 22 hours. I almost didn't read it cause I saw slow-paced, which meant I'd likely lose interest and tune it out. That was not the case. Definitely medium paced, but engaging enough to keep you invested. I appreciate that. I don't feel there was much filling text. The audio narrator, Robin Miles,  was amazing, with the voice changes. I often get lost when there are multiple characters if the narrator doesn't pitch their voice for each one. I normally don't want a HEA in my spooky books, but this one was well deserved. I will look for more books by this author as this was my first book of hers. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying and Child death

Minor: Animal cruelty and Adult/minor relationship

lame7747's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Self harm, Murder, Death of parent, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Slavery, Gaslighting, Excrement, Toxic relationship, and Rape

officialmcnugget's review against another edition

dark inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

Would have been 5 stars without the threat of sexual violence

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Suicide, Death, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Racial slurs, Murder, Racism, Domestic abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Excrement and Injury/Injury detail