Reviews tagging 'Racism'

My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen

19 reviews

aparker89's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

Wow! I just could not put this one down! I spent an entire day devouring this book and I imagine many others will too! I liked it so much- I plan on purchasing a hard copy in addition to the ebook! 
Absolutely fantastic writing! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Murder, Abandonment, Bullying, Gaslighting, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Blood, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Stalking, Terminal illness, Violence, Chronic illness, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Toxic relationship

tifftastic87's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.0

Alone and afraid Roosje has called to a spirit and bound it to her. Ruth will do anything to protect Roos from any perceived harm. When an older woman offers to take Roos away from her abusive Mama, Ruth is wary and protective, but Roos has never felt safer.

Mostly, I was bored after the first 60 pages. Things happened very slowly which doesnt always bother me but I found tedious here. We spent a lot of time with the characters but I never felt attached to them. Roos is immature and hyper reactive to negative emotions, both things that make sense with her character but do not make for fun reading. She's constantly seeking validation and that combined with the age gap, power dynamic, and emotional maturity of the two characters made it very hard for me to find the love in the story that the author wants us to find. It seemed more like Roos went from an abusive mother to an inappropriate relationship and we capped it off with an abusive relationship with the spirit, Ruth. 

The incest was unneeded to make Thomas a bad man, the racism and abuse did that well enough. It started to feel rather gratuitous. 

The tension was very low for a gothic horror and everyone just kind of felt exhausting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Death, Blood, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Incest, Infertility, Xenophobia, and Homophobia

doomham's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Child abuse

Moderate: Incest, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, and Child death

Minor: Animal death

bookeduntil's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Body horror, Sexism, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Blood, Chronic illness, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexual assault, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child death, Suicide, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Incest, Cannibalism, Classism, Infertility, and Infidelity

nostoat's review

5.0

This is an incredible modern example of the Gothic, complete with questions of sanity, obsession, love, and desire. What is love? Is it pain? Must it only be pain? When you've been through what these women have, can it be anything but sharply edged, with bloody teeth?

I was a bit apprehensive to read this book, as I have strong feelings about madness in narrative, as well as triggers around unreality. However van Veen handles it with such a deft hand. While some readers might still find it difficult or triggering to read (there are doctor's notes sprinkled throughout that, while deeply compassionate, might still be difficult), I didn't. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Terminal illness, Self harm, Racism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Incest and Sexual assault

Roos is intentionally starved by her mother throughout the beginning of the book.

adragoninspace's review against another edition

dark mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Blood, Child abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Racism, Death, Death of parent, and Rape

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

elmanana's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

If you’re looking for something more paranormal and trauma focused then this is a good pick. It’s pretty dark, but not super gory. It feels more akin to psychological horror and I like how the author applied the experiences of trauma to the characters in a way that makes you want to know what they’re gonna do next and how it’ll affect the ending. A true gothic tale where it’s left to the reader to decide what was real and what wasn’t. I did see other reviewers mentioning that the middle dragged on a little. I didn’t feel that way, although I do feel like it’s not strictly horror which can feel disappointing if that’s what you’re looking for. 
This is a tragedy of a young woman who is abused as a child and continues to experience trauma even after finding a safe haven. Then, her mental state is called into question after some mysterious deaths. There’s a strong sense of isolation in the plot and storytelling which provided a lot of interesting tension. Makes for a simple plot yet the author provided a lot of substance through the characters sense of the world as she yearns for companionship and approval. 
I liked it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Eating disorder

Moderate: Incest, Racism, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

peachy_reads's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

3.5

My Darling Dreadful Thing was a dark and mysterious tale of love and obsession and the blurred lines between the two. I adored Ruth and Roos’ sticky codependent relationship, and how it juxtaposed Roos and Agnes’ relationship which, while still dark and creaky, would have been a step in a more positive direction for Roos. 

The gothic atmosphere was so well crafted, helped along but the presence of Ruth and Peter whose creepy ever changing appearances which leant a certain level of surreal-ness to everything. AND THE MYSTERY ELEMENTS! Each reveal made me gasp with horror but it was so delightfully twisted to discover each one.

If this story was comprised solely of the life and Roos as she suffered the mysteries of Rozentuin, it would be a solid 4 stars for me! Roos desperation to please Agnes and the tenuous foundation of their relationship was compelling. I wish I could splice those parts of the story apart from the oddness of of the rest of it,,,

While I loved the writing and the main story of it all, I found myself in turns baffled and frustrated by the interviews with the doctor. At first it was an interesting tilt on the ghostly story to inject a bit of realism, to throw doubt into Roos’ story. But soon it was being used to undermine much of the sense of mystery. We weren’t allowed to sit with any ominous foreshadowing before the Doctor was spelling it out for us, as if we couldn’t draw the conclusions ourselves. 

**SPOILERS** The doctor’s presence was especially redundant during the trial. Any doubt that was created about Roos actual mental health and the realness of the ghosts was ruined when the lawyer outright proved Roos couldn’t have done anything she was accused of, veritably proving the reality of the ghosts and destroying any mystery. From there the story limped on a few more baffling chapters of Roos starting her new life and getting better? Question mark? But still having Ruth and still firmly believing Agnes would come back to her. It felt like, especially with the inclusion of the excerpt of the Doctor’s writing, that the author was still trying to draw back to the doubts about Roos’ mental health and the reality of Ruth, but by that point it felt thoroughly shattered. At least for me!

Anyways while I loved the main story, I didn’t not appreciate the use of the Doctor as a story telling element and felt he greatly diminished much of the appeal of the main storyline. For that I can only give 3.5 stars :/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Murder, Rape, Racism, Death, Body horror, Grief, Vomit, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Incest, Mental illness, Self harm, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the eARC!

First off, I loved that the author gives content warnings! It’s something I think every book should have. Now into the review-

The novel is set in The Netherlands during the 1950s. I was so excited to discover this since I haven’t read many books set in The Netherlands!

The story goes back and forth between the main plot and transcripts of Dr/patient interviews at the end of each chapter. It made the plot feel more driven, and was a big reason why I didn’t want to put it down! 

Agnes is part Indo, and we learn a bit about the culture as well as the history of Dutch colonization in Indonesia. I found it very interesting and learned a lot I didn’t know before about that piece of history!

Although the story is eerie and disturbing at times, it also has an undertone of warmth and affection, especially regarding the found family between the characters! The book slowed down a little bit in the middle but overall it was an engaging story. I enjoyed the complex characters and the unique ghost story aspect, with having spirit companion instead of being unwillingly haunted.

I did half guess a couple of the twists but they were still really well written! The novel was a quiet horror book with more disturbing imagery than fast paced action. The imagery of Ruth gave me nightmares and made me scared of the dark for sure 😭

Fantastic gothic story with a haunting, atmospheric setting and sapphic romance subplot! I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for the author’s next book 🤍 I enjoyed the book and the story but it wasn’t exactly what I hoped for. It was slower paced than what I wanted/hoped for and I kind of expected more action based on the synopsis. It was good just not great, if that makes sense?

I’d recommend for anyone wanting a sapphic love story (that’s not a romance book), unique haunting/ghost story, or a gothic horror set in an eerie estate!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Racism, Mental illness, Child abuse, Self harm, Vomit, Terminal illness, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Incest, Medical trauma, Sexual content, and Homophobia

Minor: Suicide attempt