Reviews with content warning for Rape - Do Not Become Alarmed

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy

8 reviews

sewcialism's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-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

2.0

Having read short stories by Meloy, which were beautifully written and with rich character development, I found myself double-checking that this was even the same author. Get paid, I guess.

Content Warnings

chelseakamm's review against another edition

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4.0

A quick-paced, thrilling novel about a family vacation gone completely and terribly wrong, Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy is the definition of potato-chip reading. Cousins Liv and Nora, along with their families, embark on a cruise for Christmas vacation, wanting an easy no-stress holiday. When an excursion ashore doesn't go quite as planned, a bad situation quickly gets so much worse. I have to say that the pacing of this book could not be more perfect. The shifting perspectives was a gripping way to tell the story. Each chapter was short, but perfectly written. I was struck by the last sentence of each chapter. Meloy would punch you in the gut with a sentence and leave you needing more. I listened to the audiobook version, and it was such a treat to have the author read the story. She is definitely the only one that could do justice to the different characters, varying accents and languages, and dialogue emphasis. I really enjoyed the author was reading me the story. My only drawback was the use of rape as a storyline. There are a lot of ways that the abuse could have gone, and that is not one that I am comfortable with. Typically, I DNF any book with a rape storyline on principle, and that's a surprising amount of books. The fact that I continued with this even despite that should say enough about my enjoyment of this book.

Content Warnings