Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Very Cold People by Sarah Manguso

5 reviews

lil13's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Excrement, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Child abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, and Rape

zwin's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Body shaming, Child abuse, Bullying, Mental illness, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, and Sexual violence

onmalsshelf's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

If anything, this is a good palette cleanser book if you’re unsure what to pick up next because you’ll want to pick up anything else after finishing this one. 

I found this stilted with brief bits of plot that would slightly develop and then get immediately cut off. This was more of a show than a tell kind of book and read more like an outline of memoir that was left unfinished. 

I think I can see what the author was trying to do with this dark piece of literary fiction, but the stilted prose just didn’t work for me. 

I’m glad I picked this up on audio from the library via Libby as it was a very quick listen (4hrs and 21min at 1x) instead of purchasing as it would be an immediate unhaul.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Alcohol, Body shaming, Excrement, Pregnancy, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

caoimheisme's review

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Emotional abuse, and Medical content

blainereads's review

dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

3.5 Stars—I think had I not just read Winter in Sokcho, this one might have earned an extra star, but it seems the two stories seek to do something similar and I've come to discover that I just prefer the visceral, vivid, lush descriptions of place over pain. 

With that said, coming from a Very Cold New England town myself, I can attest to the accuracy with which the author painted every horrid detail; perhaps had I not come from such a place or witnessed such depravity, this book would have been even more impressive or shocking in its scope, but it lacked a certain narrative dynamism so what's supposed to be "the reveal" at the end was nothing more than a foregone conclusion. (I also think the chapters about the Lowells and Cabots actually did a disservice to the rest of the story—it took away from the fragility and subtly, in a way. It felt a bit heavy-handed and out of place and didn't add much by way of context to the story; the social class discussions would still have been understood loud and clear without these passages.)

Content Warnings: Child Abuse, Sexual Assault, Molestation, Disordered Eating, Mental Illness, Self-Harm, Voluntary Institutionalization, Incest, Suicidal Ideation

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Incest, and Self harm

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Eating disorder