Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - How Can I Help You

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

How Can I Help You by Laura Sims

11 reviews

jamiee_f's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was wild! Our main character

Martha is a former angel of death nurse, who has reinvented herself as a librarian. However. She's starting to crack under the mundanity of her now life. Then, a new librarian shows up, and Martha is enamored. The two orbit each other for a bit before the end up in the library bathroom together as a patron dies.

The book is told in alternating perspectives that give you deep insight into both Martha and Patricia, sharing memories and their perspective on shared events.

After the patron dies in the library, Patricia and Martha start to form a relationship. Martha reveals a little bit too much about her real back story, and Patricia is able to find out who she really is. However, Patricia has become obsessed with Martha, and is using her to break free of her writers block, writing a new novel focused on her imagined tales about Martha, so she's not saying anything to the cops or Martha.

the dead patron seems to trigger Martha. And she starts behaving erratically, eventually during a patron who regularly watches porn at the library to her apartment and killing him. This is her attempt to sate her desire for death that she has been suppressing for years now. However, because she is a crazy serial killer and also very delusional, she doesn't do a great job at covering up her crime, so the body is quickly discovered.

throughout all of this, Patricia's obsession with Martha deepens. It turns into a sort of psycho sexual obsession, writing about her, thinking of Martha during sex with her milquetoast boyfriend, wishing to spend time with her. Patricia is growing more twisted throughout this tale.

things culminate in Martha being asked to take leave, so she steals Patricia's notebook and reads it. She sees that Patricia has written stories about Martha that are eerily correct, given there's no way she could actually know those details. Martha taunts Patricia with the notebook and flees to the basement. Where she plans to kill her, burn the notebook, and start a fire to destroy the library. Patricia chases after her and confronts her, begging for the notebook back. In the climactic moment, Martha starts to burn the book, and tries to stab Patricia, but Patricia is faster. She has brought the letter opener from her desk and stabs Martha in the throat! She grabs her singed notebook back and walks away, leaving the fire to consume the library. She calmly cleans herself up, washes the letter opener. And returns to work. As the book ends and the library burns, Patricia is comforting the others just as Martha would have.

it's definitely implied that now Patricia is on a dark path like Martha's and I liked that. I didn't expect Patricia to kill Martha, given her timidity in other parts of the book, but it exemplified the influence of Martha and this obsessions impact on Patricia.

Generally I love books about Bad Women and this definitely fit the bill. I also enjoy books where two people get kind of sucked into each other's orbits and chaos ensues, so again. A good fit! Martha was a delightfully unhinged character and unreliable narrator, and watching Patricia's fall was satisfying.

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cassidylee's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

This book delivered exactly what I expected. If you’re looking for unsettling and quietly violent librarians, it’s a great choice.

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

This has its moments, but overall, felt like a waste of time.

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taytastic's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

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

3.75

It was enjoyably unhinged. Dark and twisty. I read it in an afternoon.

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asporer22's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I quite enjoyed the premise for this book, but I also felt that it was quite long and drawn out. The main character, Margot, felt like she was talking about the same thing over and over again. I felt that as much detail as the author tried to put into these characters, they were still flat.

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opldxblqo's review against another edition

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funny tense fast-paced

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

3.0

How Can I Help You is a zippy fun-house ride through a Tunnel of Terror: you know what spooky thrills to expect and it delivers them pretty well; you exit the ride smiling, but wishing there had been a little more. This book is for lovers of Moshfeg's Eileen.

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kelseyr713's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

Entertaining read (especially since I used to work in a library), but I wished for a little more insight into both characters, especially as this is essentially a character study (the Margot chapters moreso) with some thriller trappings. Villain protagonist is always fun though!

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