Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen

2 reviews

blacksphinx's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a really lovely sapphic Gothic that goes some places. I just loved the light epistolary touch - every couple of chapters you'll get a transcribed interview between our protagonist Roos and the doctor hired by the court to determine if she's sane enough to stand accused in a murder trial. I felt the interviews gave a good scaffolding to the book. Normally I hate narration that's like "little did they know that one of them would soon be dead", but knowing the tale we are being told has already occurred and getting flickers of how it ends just built up the dread for me. Some parts of this novel thrilled and chilled me; but at other points, I was stuck by how derivative certain plot elements were. (One character's backstory seemed lifted straight out of a very famous Gothic novel; the author even name-checks that one in the back.)

Overall this is a great novel about the lingering effects of trauma and what that does to those who survive. If you're a goth who is always tweeting about "toxic yuri", open a new tab and buy it now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Incest, Racism, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Self harm, Infertility, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse

Minor: Abortion, Pregnancy, Animal death, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Trafficking

It's a massive spoiler but

drug overdose

kristinareadz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Bullying, Blood, Violence, Murder, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Dementia, Terminal illness, Self harm, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Vomit, Cultural appropriation, Racial slurs, and Gore

Minor: Sexual assault