Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

19 reviews

lynxpardinus's review

challenging dark mysterious tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Animal death, Drug use, Addiction, Medical content, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual assault, Car accident, Child death, Domestic abuse, Vomit, Excrement, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, and War

voidkisses's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

One of the most insane books you’ll ever read. Go in as blind as possible and stick to it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Addiction, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Body horror, Confinement, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

cloud_of_eden's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, and Sexual assault

booksnakekel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug abuse, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Child abuse, Drug use, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, and Violence

booksaregodly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Mental illness, Cursing, Death, Vomit, Violence, Confinement, Medical trauma, and Suicide

Moderate: Grief, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Gun violence, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent

akiram's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

It's hard to put into words the rollercoaster of emotions this book made me go through. I loved and I despised at the same time, it was gut wrenching in a lot parts and heartwarming in others. Altought the text is at times difficult to read because of its structure, I think that it's worth the struggle. Would not recommend to everyone because it can be triggering at times and it's a massive book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Suicide, Alcoholism, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

funmilayo's review against another edition

When I first started reading this book I was really excited because I never read anything quite like it. The storyline seemed very complex, mysterious and overall intriguing. The main reason as to why I was so excited to read this book however, was that I had read an abundance of reviews that described this book as one of the scariest stories ever. It wasn't. There were a few parts where the author tried to build up tension and did so quite interestingly (by influencing the reading speed through word placement and the format of certain passages). However, in the end all of these attempts fell completely flat and left you wanting more so that the book would eventually live up to its hype...which it really didn't. In regards to the scariness of the story: the only truly scary part of this book was the absolutely disgusting misogyny.  Mark Z. Danielewski absolutely cannot write complex female characters (Imagine Haruki Murakami but make it ten times as misogynistic!). The only "personality trait" these women had was trauma and their entire personality seemingly revolved around the male characters (Johnny in particular). There's this really horrible passage that is litteraly just page after page of Johnny detailing the traumatic experiences of every woman he's ever met in extreme detail. Lots of male authors are into using trauma/abuse of women as a plot device (because a womans pain is apparently the only substantial thing about her) but Danielewski doesn't even use the trauma for the plot...it has absoulutely nothing to do with anything which makes it all the more disturbing. There were a few passages that were somewhat interesting but not enough to redeem the overall theme and style of the story. Johnny is a literal incel and it makes me sick to read about his thoughts and actions and the lack of reflection and discussion of the extremely misogynistic content of this book is incredibly alarming. Obviously I wasn't expecting a feminist manifesto from this book but I also wasn't expecting an incel manifesto so... .
In conclusion: the idea for the story and the interesting concept and layout seemed really promising but fell through completely. I cannot and will not reccomend this book to anybody. There's much better (psychological) horror books and stories out there that are scary without being completely dehumanizing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Genocide, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Rape, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

13octopus's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Infidelity

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, and Incest

cbarteau's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Cursing, and Alcoholism