Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

A fúria by Alex Michaelides

9 reviews

chloecam's review against another edition

dark 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

1.0

put me into a reading slump - unfortunately not for me and i thought i would love it as i'm in the acting industry so know a lot of the references, but o mg did it drag and sometimes i can deal with an unreliable narrator but holy moly this was next level. I did not care about any of the characters and the final twists had me rolling my eyes i was actually so frustrated at the whole big
so sorry to the author lol 😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Gun violence, and Violence

Minor: Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

miggyfool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death of parent, Classism, Alcohol, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Body horror, Drug use, Addiction, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

kelsylee's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense slow-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

2.25

I would dnf but I was reading this for a reading challenge.

This book kept me up all night, not because it was good, but because I couldn’t stop thinking about how stupid it was.

The narrator was awful, it took me so much longer to finish this than it should have because I just didn’t want to read the parts where he was talking. I had the ending figured out a few chapters in and the big reveal just wasn’t rewarding.

The entire book could be summed up in one sentence:

NiceGuy(tm) can’t take no for an answer

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Drug use, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Bullying, and Child abuse

efulton's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The first third of this book was a bit slower but the last two thirds more than made up for it. Definitely worth a read! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Death

Minor: Blood, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

abbyweber's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

2.0

I think this book would have been better if it weren’t written in 2nd person. The narrator came across as pretentious and annoying. Over all, it was boring, even though it started to get better around page 225… it was only a 300 page book. The pacing was slow and the story was all over the place. I get that was kind of the point, but it ended up being confusing. I didn’t really end up caring about any of the characters or who died. There were a few twists that were entertaining, but again, they would have been more successful if the writing was either 1st or 3rd POV. I enjoyed the little Easter Egg for The Silent Patient in the epilogue though.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Murder, Death of parent, Blood, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, and Bullying

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional tense 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

4.25

    It's a thriller based very loosely on Lana Taylor's murder. (Or that's my guess)
   There were many twists and turns, but I figured out some partway through. I knew it would some way tie back to the other books. As they all tie back to each other.
   

I would have liked to know what he meant by, if you read this I'm dead part. Maybe I just don't remember from the other books.

     None of the characters were particularly likable which did make it harder to enjoy. Though it was well written. It was very atmospheric. I also would have liked someone else's POV besides Elliot, since he was a highly unreliable narrator.

Narrator Rating: 4.5 stars
   The narrator did an excellent job. Though he was a bit easy to zone out to.

Extra ratings: Fluff-NA   Heartfelt-3/5   Helpful-NA    Horror-NA   Inspiration-NA   Love aka Romance-0.5/5  Mystery-3/5    Predictability-1.5/5  Spice-0/5   Suspense-3/5   Tear- 1.5/5  Thrill-3.5/5   Humor-0/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Alcohol, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Death, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Infidelity, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Bullying, Drug use, and Mental illness

Moderate: Murder, Addiction, Cursing, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Animal death, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Vomit, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

annaavian's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

2.0

While this book had the potential to be great, I found it's heavy reliance on dramatic elements for shock value rather disappointing and tiring. 

The flow of the story often felt unbalanced. Some scenes tended to drag on longer than necessary, while other key moments were rushed through or not fully developed. This unevenness in the pacing detracted from the overall enjoyment I had while reading.
I also felt there was a lack of credibility and common sense throughout, which prevented me from fully enjoying it. The characters' choices often came across as being poorly thought out. 
And while Elliott may not have been the most likable or believable narrator, it would have added depth to the story if his past had been more fully developed. 

Overall, this book felt like a shallow imitation of an Agatha Christie novel, lacking the depth, complexity and attention to detail that made her novels so captivating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Infidelity, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Bullying, Drug use, and Stalking

tallhousecookies's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the ARC of The Fury.

I credit Alex Michaelides' first thriller The Silent Patient for getting me back into reading, however I have been massively disappointed by two subsequent thrillers he has written, first The Maidens and now The Fury.

A postive aspect of this book is Michaelides' ability to world build. The settings of both London and the private Greek island were vivid and definitely placed me in the world of the novel.

The biggest aspect of this book and a pattern Michaelides has in all of his thrillers is the female character(s) are truly obsessed with the men in their lives when the men are actively causing harm to these women and the people around them. That may be a point of these books, but I feel it would be more interesting and compelling as the reader to understand the women's why for loving them more than just

"they provide me attention and affection" and/or "they have daddy issues."

What are the men's good moments, if there are any? If there aren't, let's get to the root of the woman's why a bit more. I struggled to understand any of the female character's motivations for their actions and reactions when it came to the love interest of his novel, which made me fail to understand a large portion of the plot.

The pacing of this novel left a lot to be desired. It's a short novel, and I found myself speed reading to find the point. The story would progress and then you'd find out in the next chapter that none of the events that happened in the previous chapter actually happened. It just left me, the reader, feeling like "okay then why did you put me through this?" I like a book with an unreliable narrator, but I think this could have been executed in different and more effective ways. See Hanya Yanagihara's The People in the Trees with the usage of an additional character being the "editor" of the main character's compilation of diary entries and providing footnotes with additional context or differing "facts." Something similar could have been done by

having Mariana, Elliot's therapist and main character of Michaelides' previous novel The Maidens, provide additional context or be a conduit for Elliot's story. This would also make Mariana's addition in the book and the linking of all the novel's worlds more intentional and less cheeky.

It was also, sadly, a bit predictable.

There's a reason the book was written in Elliot's perspective, so obviously he would be the one to kill Lana. Also, there was too much left in the book when she "died" initially so I saw the red herring death coming

. Because of the predictability, I was made less interested in the novel as a whole.

While I love The Silent Patient, I think that Alex Michaelides may not be for me as a whole. If this is your first Michaelides book, you may find The Fury more enjoyable than I did. However, I personally would not recommend this book to any thriller lover.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

5.0

A bewitching blend of Agatha Christie, Clue, and Knives Out/Glass Onion. This spectacular performance left me on the edge of my seat at curtain call.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Bullying, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Blood, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, and Death