Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

15 reviews

zoeelora's review

Apparently sexual harassment is funny?? This book has potential but I just cannot get over the uncomfortable dialog and situational humor. I enjoyed the philosophical parts though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Grief, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Death, and Mental illness

gphemsley's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Violence, Alcohol, Murder, Cancer, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

The entire story deals with grief, death, and the aftermath of death. It's not particularly graphic, but most of the story involves ghosts and how they came to be.

goodin10tions's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was late to the party on this book, but now I understand all they hype. I found this book very tender and compassionate. I saw that it was categorized as contemporary fantasy and although I don't disagree I'd would add that there isn't a great deal of "world building" as in many fantasy stories. It was all very relatable in a current world setting. If that makes sense. 

Highly recommend this book Trigger warning for grief and death (that is what the story is about)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Suicide

Minor: Mental illness

marsonmars's review

emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

4.5

If you ever wanna read a book, were you have to stop once every chapter because you are crying so hard you can't see the page anymore, this bad boy is for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Suicide, Mental illness, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, Suicide attempt, Animal death, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Car accident, Chronic illness, and Emotional abuse

jbird_reads's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Homophobia, Murder, and Emotional abuse

mayday_the_cleric's review

The characters felt so woobified somehow, carefully curated to make you feel for them and relate to them, but in contrived way. One moment, Wallace was an uptight person and one of the founders of a highly successful law company. Someone who has lead a tough life and been hardended by it. The next, almost immediately after he died, he became a blubbering kid who suddenly started questioning everything about himself and threw away all the hard characteristics that he had before for a more mellow personality without any actual reasons. It’s almost like he forgot who he was before, and now, just because the people around him spew some platitudes and pseudo-philosopical questions about life or whatever around him, he suddenly has epiphanies that changed his life perspective so quickly without any actual buildups to it. Because of this, the revelations that he came to after only spending a few days in a tea shop with a bunch of strangers he hardly knows just felt so unearned and severely lacked depth. This is especially disappointing, knowing that this book came after The House on the Cerulean Sea, in which the MC had a beautiful character progression for himself, unlike in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Emotional abuse

fiveredhens's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

2.0

mmm... hugo deserves better

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Racism and Cursing

augustar14's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

You have to read more than the first chapter or two of this book to say you really gave it a try. Wallace, simply put, was a horrible person. He wasn't nice to anyone, nor did he care about those around him, yet he's surprised and angry when no one shows up to his funeral. He has unfinished business; he can't be dead. But, he is, and now he's off to the ferryman's place, where he must stay until he's ready to pass over. But he won't be happy about it, nor will he let the ferryman in, no matter how nice the guy might be, or attractive, or how wonderful his tea is...
A beautifully written story about life, but particularly what comes after. How we cope with the impact our lives had on others, and how grief impacts each person differently. About letting go, holding on, and the steps in between. You won't love Wallace at first, but by the end I think you might feel differently. I certainly did. And it's probably worth keeping a tissue box nearby.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Cursing, Mental illness, Abandonment, Suicide, Child death, and Confinement

Minor: Animal death, Sexual content, and War

asipofcozy's review

dark emotional funny hopeful sad 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

4.5

"Energy. Life. Death. All of it. We rise and we fall and the we rise once more. We're all on different paths, but death doesn't discriminate. It comes for everyone."

This book was truly wonderful and at the moment I have no words for it. Klune has a profound way of touching his readers, especially when it comes to heavy topics. Death, is such a touchy and taboo subject for many of us. It's unknown, scary, we question what is after and what was even before. How Klune was able to calm those fears is beyond me. He bring's in his own perspective of death and it's so hauntingly charming...if that can even be a thing.

"What makes a good person? Hugo asked. "Actions? Motivations? Selflessness?"
"Maybe all of it," Wallace said. "Or maybe none of it."

This book also touches on the subject of "what does it mean to live a full life?" and "what does it mean to be a good person?". The main character, Wallace Price, is none of these things when we first meet him. He is a corporate businessman who cares more about making the next buck than if his employees are being treated fairly. He lives a strict life, on schedule and never late. Yet, the evolution of Wallace is beautiful to watch as he accepts his death and the life he really did not live.

I became so invested in these characters, this world. I found myself crying in laughter and in sorrow. So many difficult and traumatizing subjects come to light and yet it puts perspective into things.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Murder, and Animal death

Minor: Cultural appropriation and Cursing

batwinggoth's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-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

4.5

The book has a slow start, but the delivery of main character's struggles and inner monologue are written whimsically and humorous which is a great balance to the dark and heavy themes of the novel. The characters are all written well with great detail to each. The story's narrative is well encompassing of both predictable story progression and the pleasantly unexpected that pull you even deeper into the story being told.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Car accident, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Self harm

The book is centered around dead people and meeting people from all walks of life as they die in various ways - understanding and helping them process their dead and pass. Most characters are complicated and real with great detail of their emotions, feelings, and inner dialogue and they process their life and what happened to them or what they're currently going through. There's a child

who died from terminal illness whose mother is actively grieving and constantly visiting the tea shop (central setting of the book).

There's a character who we meet who was

murdered in an ally who recounts his death and expresses his extreme anger drastically.

There's a character who was bullied and emotionally abused

by his parents and experiences a sudden loss of his partner in the hospital and ends up dying by suicide due to his overwhelming grief.

The main character begins as an extremely toxic, workaholic and overall extremely bitter man who had been once married to a woman, the both of whom where extremely toxic and gaslighting towards each other in the end. The sexual harassment

is only in reference to a man and a woman who visit their tea shop often and constantly hits on Hugo in inappropriate ways and in one instance the man even says he'll 'wear him down' despite Hugo already rejecting him multiple times.

The animal death

is only mentioned because a main character, Apollo, is a ghost dog who had passed.

I may have missed other important instances of tagged content, but hopefully this helps give folks a better idea about the themes who need it to determine whether reading the book is right for them. I'd say while it's not impossible to skip past some graphic subjects, death and grief are unavoidable and I would suggest you not read the book if you are actively in mourning yourself unless you find reading about other people's grief and experiences cathartic in processing your own grief.