Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Things We Do To Our Friends by Heather Darwent

5 reviews

nialiversuch's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit

_tabby_'s review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.75

I havent been able to stop thinking about this book since I finished it. The ending is the most gripping, surprising and unexpected twist that this book holds (and there are a number of twists). The book itself is worth reading simply just to get the full force and shock of the ending.
The theme of deception is vitally important to both the personalities of the characters and the authors writing style. Not only does Darwent use this method to create interesting and surprisingly dark characters but also to give the reader the impression that we're also being deceived from a narration pov. The biased/ unreliable narrator is a very clever technique that this book was perfect for.
However, I couldn't rate it 5☆ simply because the beginning was slow and lacked traction.
Loved this book and I dont think the final plot twist will ever not be on my mind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism

ranuken's review against another edition

dark medium-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

2.5

I personally found the plot very far fetched, even predictable in its impact. The actual drama is glossed over and the focus is mainly the protagonists feelings and thoughts after the current and past events happen/ed. Though they are completely lacking in reflection or improvement in the end. It takes away from the actual climax of the book, which I found to be lacking. The characters are relatable as people you might meet in your life, but are generally unlikeable and and mostly very copy-paste. Nothing sets them apart much in character. There is little to no character development or reflection despite the focus on the protagonists inner world and we don't see consequence to any of their actions, they seem to just continue and they have little emotion to what transpired and what they have caused, which was made "plausible" by their previous agonizing, mostly self-inflicted though. The revelation and ending is unsatisfying and it actually irked me that the protagonist just continued on living a wealthy boring life. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

zxphyrean's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

It starts off quite slow-paced but gathers speed as the book goes on. None of the characters are likeable, in fact they're detestable but the kind where you just have to keep reading to find out how it's going to end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Torture, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and Classism

sarafinley's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

3.75

First off, thank you Penguin Random House for sending me an ARC of this book! 

Without giving anything away this is essentially a story of a group of unhinged women inflicting friendship on each other. I found it to be more of a slow burn suspense with clever writing that places you within the dark academia atmosphere in a bit of a disorienting way. 

This book is told from the perspective of Claire, who is writing out the details of her time with her toxic group of college friends who called themselves The Shiver. This perspective provides peaks into the future, references to Claire’s own dark past, and some incredible insight into obsessive relationships. 

This is one of those books where I could definitely see myself re-rating once I sit with it a little longer but for now it feels like a solid four stars.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Sexual assault