Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell

6 reviews

redroseses's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Death, Classism, and Child death

Moderate: Child abuse, Vomit, Terminal illness, Car accident, Stalking, Gore, Child death, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Minor: Body horror, Police brutality, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

robin_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Laura Purcell did it again. I absolutely adore her writing. So detailed and eerie, gives you just enough information to keep you in the dark but speculating at the same time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Blood, Misogyny, Murder, Grief, and Vomit

erie_rain's review

slow-paced

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

1.0

Unfortunately I found this book rather boring. At no point did it give the dark mysterious vibes I expected after reading other books by this author. It all felt kinda bland and I didn't end up caring much about either plot or characters.
I had hoped the awaited plot twist at the end could redeem it some but it was merely the final nail in the books coffin.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Vomit, Child death, and Death of parent

Minor: Forced institutionalization

further trigger warning:

misrepresentation of mental illness: delusions and dissociation, use of mental illness as a plot device

emmasanderson's review

dark 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

4.0

A slightly different genre for me as it had a supernatural element as well as  being Victorian gothic.  I found it a real page-turner towards the ending which was quite unexpected (for me).   It felt historically accurate and well researched.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Child death, Chronic illness, Medical content, and Mental illness

caidyn's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

2.75

Every time I started to get into this book, I then found myself uninterested. It's not that this is a bad book, it just didn't draw me in like I anticipated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent

kb_sherman's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Vomit, and Mental illness

Moderate: Car accident, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, and Infidelity