Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

191 reviews

bowlsofpasta's review against another edition

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

0.75

Highly recommend if you’re in the mood to read hot garbage. 

If anyone tells you this book is the “darkest” and “most twisted” book of the year than it’s probably the only book they’ve read all year. I’ve read children’s books with more gore.

The author spends way too much time  rambling about shit no one cares about and less on focusing on the murders that are honestly pretty mundane. 

Also, I get that the point is that the main character is a bad person. She’s like those annoying “feminist” who hate the patriarchy but then shit on other women for wearing makeup. But damn, no character development? She doesn’t learn a thing?

And that ending? Had to be the worse ending I’ve ever read in my life. Even if the book was good the ending would still have ruined the whole thing. But I supposed mold onto an already rotting dish doesn’t make too much difference anyways. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Death of parent, Cursing, Classism, Cancer, Murder, Sexism, and Misogyny

Minor: Grief and Body shaming

stindex's review against another edition

lighthearted 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? It's complicated

1.0

The author makes me sad. They’ve apparently tried to push all the things they hate into this book and it just makes this feel like a boomer whining about basically everything. For a ”feminist” main character the mc sure spent a lot of time hating on women in a very pick me -girlish style. Body shaming was also very present whenever describing anyone else but the mc or their love interest. The premise was great but the book is an absolute train wreck from the start.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Stalking, Sexual content, Abandonment, Sexism, Misogyny, Death of parent, Infidelity, Fatphobia, Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Bullying, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Torture, Confinement, Car accident, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Grief, and Terminal illness

bkyng313's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Suicide, Car accident, Alcohol, Classism, Death, and Sexual content

pil4r's review against another edition

funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.75

Me resulta un poco complejo ubicar el género de esta novela. How to kill your family no responde ni se acerca a los canones de la ficción literaria pero tampoco termina de convencerme como thriller y está muy lejos del universo de la literatura juvenil.
Su historia sigue a Grace quien, desde que empieza este relato, nos cuenta que ha cumplido la meta autoimpuesta de asesinar a miembros de su familia. Mientras nos cuenta cómo, esta protagonista intenta -y algunas veces logra- ser astuta, rencorosa, inteligente y sarcástica; siendo, principalmente, su tono el que sostiene lo gracioso y entretenido de este recorrido.
Sin embargo, considero que esta novela se encuentra con varios problemas a lo largo de su desarrollo. Es un texto bastante largo de más y es esa extensión la que produce que el suspenso ensayado se diluya y, por momentos, tanto la trama como la protagonista pierdan mucho sentido -y ni hablar de verosimilitud-.
La idea central es interesante, aunque realmente esperaba encontrarme con una historia o bastante más entretenida o una tanto más profunda.
Por todo esto, no se me ocurre bien a quien recomendarle este libro. Por otro lado, si buscan obras de ficción que se centren en mujeres complejas cometiendo grandes errores -por no decir crimenes- les recomiendo chusmearse novelas como Big Swiss (del mundo de lo bizarro y lo LGBT), Boy Parts (de lo artístico y oscuro) y Hasta que mueras (de lo argentino y furioso). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and Murder

saskiahill's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Grief, Sexual content, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Alcohol, Blood, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Violence, and Drug use

esv_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Murder, Death of parent, and Child death

Moderate: Cursing, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Violence, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Infidelity, and Blood

Minor: Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Eating disorder, Sexism, Suicide, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Incest, and Mental illness

nplunkie's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

There are elements of this book I really loved but there are parts that really took away from my overall enjoyment of the book. The protagonist not being particularly likeable and really a bit of a “pick-me” was something I just accepted as the book went on. I didn’t love how the chapters were structured, often very long but then with the real event of the chapter only taking up a handful of pages. 
The ending was what really took away from the story for me.

The whole long lost half brother who had managed to infiltrate the family is the one that ruins her plan (but also means Simon is dead without her struggling to figure out a way) just feels like a way out of coming up with an ending. It is mentioned that she feels as though she’s being watched but that is quickly brushed off and she goes about another 3 killings - hard to believe she could get away with all of those without leaving evidence but not notice a man following her

.
Overall it feels like the book had real potential but just fell a bit flat especially in the last 50 pages or so for me - interested to read more books from this author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Infidelity, Death, Abandonment, and Death of parent

Moderate: Car accident, Stalking, Terminal illness, Grief, and Drug use

ursa_arlo's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.5

What irritates me most about this novel is that Grace has very little she fights for, except the death of her family. She hates everything equally, bringing everything and everyone down around her with overdone sarcasm that makes it hard to get a read on what she does care about. If you stand for nothing, what will you fall for? It makes her an intolerable MC and not in a 'character you love to hate' way. 

I did enjoy the first half of the book; it was interesting to read about how the murders took place, but there was no clear message to the book. Clearly, it was a not a feminist statement, nor did it make a clear statement about Grace becoming more like her father than she'd wanted. Although, I did not mind the twist as much, it was badly foreshadowed and muddied the message of the book even further. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body shaming, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Misogyny, Car accident, and Abandonment

Moderate: Grief, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Infidelity, Drug use, Drug abuse, Confinement, and Alcoholism

Minor: Miscarriage

katie_33's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Torture, Stalking, and Violence

abi_sarah's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Took me a while to get into it, but I really loved this book! 

Bella Mackie’s writing was so witty and painfully honest. The familial annoyances that Grace felt throughout were so relatable - she just had an extreme response to them! 😅 

I felt like the first deaths happened a little to early, so there was a then a bit of a lull for me where I lost interest a bit. It soon picked ip again though and held my interest until the very end. The last 35-30% really had me gripped - there were just so many new twists and turns that I just wanted to keep reading! 

The only thing I would stay that stops it from being 5 stars, is that sometimes I found Grace’s reasoning behind her murders a little shallow? Maybe it was just me, but a bit of believability escaped there for me.

Excellent writing from Bella Mackie, highly entertaining! Great story-telling too! Loved the plot twists, so imaginative!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body horror, Drug abuse, Car accident, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Blood, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Alcoholism, and Sexual assault