Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

11 reviews

imds's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Classism, Death, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Vomit, and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicide and Abortion

minimicropup's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Main POV 👍:

• An author feeling like a one-hit wonder. They had a best seller, but can't figure out how to follow-up in a meaningful way. They come across as self-pitying, desperate, pathetic, hopeful, entitled, ignorant, and vain, with a touch of covert narcissism. 
• THE plot. The plot that was stolen. We get to read it in bits over the course of the story and it's pretty good. Semi-predictable but good. 

Atmosphere 😐: Accusatory, impassioned, pretentious 
We follow our MC over time from being a teacher at a small college in small town Vermont to fame in Manhattan, NY.

Cred Rating 😕: Suspend that belief
Without being OTT, this story is so OTT. THE plot isn't ground breaking, but admittedly new (I think) and quite interesting as a lit fic/thriller. As far as the plot outside of THE plot, it's a bit watered down with lots of OTT moments.

Growls and Howls 🐺:

• Long-con villain monolog. Lots of scheming, plotting, rearranging an entire life to get 'revenge' that can only be successful if multiple coincidental/convenient events occur...broke the story for me. Somehow the villain monolog worked though, because it didn't rely on someone just listening intently instead of trying to escape.
• Confusing ending requiring re-reading. The plot and THE plot eventually come together in a way where minor elements are changed (thank villain monolog for the heads-up) and ultimately I wish we had just read THE plot?

Reading Journey 🙂: Tour of a local college. Some interesting bits, potential, sparks of talent, but also a lot of polite nodding b/c not planning on applying.

Mood Reading Match-Up:

• Meta reads (book within a book and plot within a plot)
• Red herrings and amateur sleuthing
• Family secrets investigation
• Brief touches of OTT lit fic
• Unlikeable characters
• Stolen artistic IP

Vibes: 😒🤔😣

Content Heads-Up: Drug use (unintentional), Blackmail

Format: Hardcover

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Murder, Pregnancy, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Vomit, Abortion, and Suicide

Drug use refers to

fatal overdose and description of experience from overmedication

. Fire involves

death from being trapped in fire

. Adult minor relationship is

15 yr old with man in his 30s/40s (w/15 yr old thinking she’s consenting)

. Abortion refers to a character wanting one and being denied it for religious reasons.

londonsetterby's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Murder, Stalking, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit

Death from anaphylactic food allergy

sibertooth's review against another edition

funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

Welp. I just stayed up till the middle of the night to finish this, which isn't something I generally do these days.

What's so fun about this book is that it starts out as a bog-standard MFA Dramedy – you know, with the stalled next novel and the awful student stories and all that – and then turns into a thriller while, to all appearances, keeping the MFA Dramedy scope and stakes. It is genuinely tense and gripping to read about this guy worrying that he's bargained away his self-respect and is about to lose his career.

It gets more conventional later on, and I guessed both big twists (the one in the main story and the one in the within-a-story) somewhat in advance, but that's an expected part of the thriller-reading experience, right?

Tone-wise (as opposed to plot-wise), the ending did seem to come out of left field, and that soured things a tiny bit for me. But this is still a heck of a ride.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, Vomit, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, and Suicide

Minor: Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Pregnancy

keijiwolf's review against another edition

dark mysterious

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Vomit

Moderate: Abortion, Pregnancy, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, and Fire/Fire injury

literarylion's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Pros:

• Jake's character is fleshed-out and feels realistic; his development is extreme but logical
• It is well-paced and I can tell Korelitz planned each scene carefully to build toward the twist
• I loved the meta aspect -- a plot within a plot within a plot, the trials of being an author/writer, the multiple meanings of plot, etc. 

Cons:

• The reveal felt trope-y and a bit contrived
• Anna's character and motivations don't feel believable to me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual assault

Minor: Abortion and Vomit

jaynovara's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Cancer, Cursing, Drug use, Vomit, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, and Murder

mlthomas234's review against another edition

dark funny 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? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this book. The main character Jake is not particularly likable but he is understandable. I also liked the “story within the story” device and how we watched the plot unfold. A pretty solid thriller. I’m not giving it five stars for two reasons: for one, the first act is extremely slow. What the book summary shows as the premise (man steals plot, gets weird message) takes up the first THIRD of the book. This really didn’t feel necessary and ultimately I don’t think that long build up was consequential to the story. Secondly, the twist was fairly predictable— very shortly after that 30% mark. I don’t think a plot twist being predictable makes it a bad book— just didn’t blow me away.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Child abuse, Suicide, Vomit, Violence, Sexual content, Self harm, Pregnancy, Addiction, and Abandonment

Minor: Abortion

beyourbestshelf's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Vomit, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, and Drug abuse

caprivoyant's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

It's a little weird: reading a book about a plot with a twist nobody saw coming... that has a twist that you can see coming from a mile away.

It was still good. Still interesting. Still well-written and I still wanted to see how everything would unfold even though what would unfold was already pretty clear. 

All-in-all an enjoyable read. I'd recommend it if you don't mind knowing the ending early on and just wanna be taken for a good ride.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Vomit

Minor: Drug use and Abandonment