Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Schoolhouse by Sophie Ward

3 reviews

delinxw's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Idk. The story was fine, it took me a while to really get into it. The ending felt unsatisfying. I have read and still read multiple books with different pov chapters, but this just didn’t do it for me. I clearly had a favorite pov (writing style mainly), which made it hard to get through; as I was kind of just hoping to get to one of those chapters after finishing the one before😂

Lots of trigger warnings for this book though. I annotate all my books and my most used tabs are for “disgusted” and “shock”. I’ve tried to fill in the content warnings as best as I could. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Sexual assault, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, and Lesbophobia

mysterymom40's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Rape

Moderate: Ableism, Stalking, Torture, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia

Minor: Pregnancy

repeated flashbacks of grooming; disturbing scenes of older kids bullying younger students; educators not being responsible caregivers towards children in their care; one incident of an agitated horse (induced by a human) , crushing the bones of a boy;

becca_thegrimreader's review against another edition

slow-paced

1.5

This book wasn’t for me. I felt that it didn’t live up to the intrigue I felt after reading the blurb. The writing was a bit clunky and it didn’t capture my attention. There were two separate plots running through the book, and I spent most of the book wondering how they were connected. Isobel’s story centres around her living with her past and of what happened at The Schoolhouse in 1975. Then we have the story of a missing schoolgirl in 1990, with Isobel randomly appearing as the only witness to having seen the girl. It just didn’t really make sense, something done more to force the two plots together. The diary sections which are told from the point of view of an eleven year old are quite jarring, and didn’t quite fit with the writing of the other sections. I’m sorry for quite a negative review but this was a disappointing read and I was happy to reach the end.

Thank you to Netgalley for the copy of this book. My review is honest and unbiased. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual violence

Minor: Rape and Violence