Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver

10 reviews

megelizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

I'm glad I finally got around to reading this, having had it sitting on my shelves for ages and having heard so much about it over the years. It's a slow, dense read, and not at all an enjoyable one, but definitely a fascinating one overall. The ending also really surprised me, and it's definitely well-written and cleverly thought-out as a whole. The main thing that stopped me giving this a higher rating is that, while the protagonist is clearly deliberately unlikeable, there were times where it wasn't clear whether particular awful things were purely Eva or instead were reflective of the author's views. I also really struggled to see any real love or connection between Eva and her husband, which made that element of the story (and it's quite a big one) super hard to care about or link with everything else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Child abuse, Blood, Death, Child death, and Racism

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Genocide

commisnob's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Domestic abuse, and Animal cruelty

iiisabelle's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Death, and Cursing

Minor: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, and Genocide

anhedonia_n_anomie's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Torture, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Mass/school shootings

townmarshboy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Grief, Death, Child death, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Racial slurs, Violence, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Racism, Blood, Body shaming, Medical content, Gun violence, Homophobia, and Mental illness

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Cursing, Dementia, Genocide, and Suicidal thoughts

ehart416's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

Keeps you hooked from beginning to end, despite you knowing exactly what's about to happen.  There is a perfect balance of ambiguity when it comes to who is really at fault and it is shockingly well executed.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Mass/school shootings, and Cursing

Minor: Eating disorder

pockymonster_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Sexual harassment, Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Hate crime, Gun violence, Gore, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Body shaming, and Animal cruelty

nayyira's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, and Mass/school shootings

holly_mc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Excrement and Sexual content

mghrt06's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Animal cruelty