Reviews tagging 'Torture'

You by Caroline Kepnes

16 reviews

jdineen03's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

4.25

So good, insanely tense. As a fan of the show I had high hopes for the book, and it did not fail me. The book was a bit hard to follow at times and the main characters were both a bit much at times but the descriptive imagery was phenomenal.

The biggest downfall of this book for me was the seemingly endless amount of sex. It was as if every other page was sexual in nature and many of the comparisons were uncomfortable and unnerving. Some of the book seemed to be glamorizing gaslighting and toxicity in relationships.

Overall a very good book, but could be very triggering if not in the right head space.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Cursing, Death, Murder, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual content, Blood, and Toxic relationship

ging090803's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

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

3.75

I loved the TV show and since I knew it was a book first, I wanted to read it to compare.

I liked how it was written. Not a lot of sentence but a lot of and, I felt like I was in Joe’s head all the time. 

However, I found it pretty slow.

Not a lot happened. I mean, yeah, murder and shit but it was mostly sex, sex and sex. Joe has a big sex obsession. Then, bam, a dead person just to spice things up.

So, yeah, great book. The story is good, it is, however, pretty slow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Sexual content, and Stalking

Moderate: Blood, Gore, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Chronic illness, Mental illness, and Vomit

anxiousbookclub's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Drug use, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse

aeai's review against another edition

dark sad tense

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

1.0

I watched the series before reading this and I'm quite disappointed. Narratively it isn't (as) interesting or refined, in my opinion, and I found reading the extremely misogynistic stream of consciousness of the main character not appealing in the slightest. I don't like how the characters or their storylines are written, especially when it comes to the women, and I get why the screenwriters felt like they needed to add and change so much for the adaptation. Many clever turns, references, tensions, nuances in the series... turn out to not exist in the original material. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Stalking, and Torture

Moderate: Body shaming and Bullying

melplays9000's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This book really is a rollercoaster, mainly because we’re so stuck in Joe’s read and his thoughts flip so quickly between total happiness and intense anger. I hated him with a burning passion, but I think that made this book great. Reading this was a really stressful experience because Joe really has no boundaries as to what he would do to get to Beck and I just found myself on the edge of my seat every time he got angry because you never knew what he would be willing to do. 

I wasn’t really a fan of the amount of sex in this book. I felt it was unnecessary and right at the very start I thought I might DNF this book just because of it. I understand that some of it was necessary but I would have personally preferred if this wasn’t some weird, messed up, psychopathic porn. 

I enjoyed this book overall. I loved how unique and weird it was and how different Joe was from any other main character I’ve read from before. I think the perspective and second person narrative really made this book and worked super well. I was put off quite a bit because of the sex and honestly I did not empathize with Joe like everyone else seems to have. 3.5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Stalking, and Sexual content

Moderate: Torture, Violence, and Kidnapping

nxclx's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

5.0

I'd watch bits of the show, but nothing concrete, so it was still a good read. The protagonist is creepy, and controlling, and the writing was amazing. I know Joe is toxic, but the writing made me want him to succeed, and then it slowly turned, yet still held it's charm. I immediately wanted to pick up Hidden Bodies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident, Confinement, and Torture

Minor: Suicide