Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Good House by Tananarive Due

10 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.

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

brokenspine's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Suicide

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

biblioghoul's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, and Child death

Minor: Car accident and Infidelity

keenanmaree's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Dementia, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts