Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - دوشیزگان

Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

دوشیزگان by Alex Michaelides

151 reviews

keralajane's review against another edition

1.5

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Yeesh. This protagonist has no business being a therapist. And who are all these people encouraging her to get more and more involved in a crime she has barely any connection to?? And yes, the laughably incompetent local police, the red herring stranger, the weird other POV chapters that go nowhere. It's all a mess.

I listened to 90% of this in one day, I got 60% through just doing gardening and it was around that time that I decided it was a bad book but I also felt that I was too far along to give it up. So I can say I did finish this but I wish I hadn't.

It is also glaringly apparent that the author went to Cambridge (you can always just tell, can't you?). I read somewhere that he used to write movies that went from bad to worse and finally gave it up. Maybe it's time to give up books too.

Content Warnings

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

3.5

dark informative sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Honestly, I wished I typed this review out as soon as I finished this book. Four days have passed and I honestly don't remember much about it. I remember the plot and everything just fine, what I'm trying to say is that this book is very forgettable. I was really excited after reading "The Silent Patient" two years ago (around this time, funny enough) and learning that this book is centered around greek mythology (which I love). I was initially pumped and sadly underwhelmed when I finished. The best way I could describe this book is just lacking. It lacked a lot. It lacked in the plot. It lacked in intricately incorporating the Greek mythology into the story. It lacked when it came to the side characters. It lacked with the plot twists

I knew it was Zoe, but there was a lot of unnecessary misdirection with the twist that had me questioning if I was right. Also, the subtle incest twist was so unnecessary. Felt cheap.

. I just felt like things weren't as intricately woven out as he was making it seem like they were. I found certain side characters to be extremely redundant. The society plot device, underutilized. And the plot twist to be incredibly lubricious and disappointing. Not gonna lie, a little part of me wanted to dnf this book, but I trudged along because it was short, and weirdly enough I thoroughly enjoyed his writing. It is very flowery (I think "purple prose" is what it's called) which I wasn't expecting when going into a thriller. I really enjoyed his writing here, however, due to the things I listed above as well as the fact that his storytelling (he's what I call a "slow burn" thriller author; meaning he relays his stories like a mystery with a big twist at the end rather than presenting various mini-plot twists throughout the story which is my preferred method of thriller storytelling) isn't my favorite way that I'd like to consume thrillers. It just didn't make for the most enjoyable reading experience. I don't think this is the worst thing ever by any means. I just think it was mid, mediocre. Nothing crazy. (something cool though was how this book was lowkey a prequel to "The Silent Patient"; we got to see Theo which was really cool)

Content Warnings

hazybee's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Reads like you are watching a movie. You can picture every scene and character perfectly. My only complaint is that there are so many random side characters that only appear for a scene or two and it’s hard to remember all their names for when they get brought back up again later

Content Warnings

kbxrchill's review against another edition

3.5

dark 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

literally why was the twist pedophilia

Content Warnings

cinderpot's review against another edition

4.75

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Amazing book! Amazing twist!!! I read the silent patient about a year ago and really like it. This book follows a similar premise and over all ties in greatly. Some professional decisions from the main character is questionable… but what can you get with a fiction.

The added cameo from Theo was my favourite

Will be ready his next book with anticipation!!!! JUSTICE FOR FRED!!!!

Content Warnings

bookishmeaghan's review against another edition

2.0

dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

lionfish_22's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

bradonlong's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This was a four star read that I was enjoying more than “The Silent Patient.”

The ending perhaps would have brought this down to three, but the true reason I brought it down originally to two stars? (Now updated to three.)

He killed the dog. Unnecessarily. A rule very rarely to be broken, and for this plot purpose, certainly not the exception needed to break it.

Content Warnings