Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

39 reviews

toastrats's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Suicide

Moderate: Terminal illness and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

vaguely_pink's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

Big thanks to my newest literary heroine Shirley Jackson for yassifying the ghost story. You truly were ahead of your time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Death of parent, Bullying, Abandonment, Car accident, and Death

Minor: Grief, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Sexism, and Blood

saliwali's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

foldingthepage_kayleigh'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic friendship, Death, and Blood

louiepotterbook's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

1.0

Eleanor deserved better and the fact that Theo lived and she didn’t is absolute bullshit

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Sexism, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Violence

kate_arts's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book isn’t scary per se,but it sticks with you. Definitely more psychological than actual jump scares, though those are present as well. Nothing really like the tv show.

I especially like that Eleanor’s tone changed as a narrator as the book went along you can see her loose her sense of self in how the different occurrences are described. I also really like how you get to the last evening and you have to second guess yourself about all the crazy things that have happened so far. Like the blood in Theon’s room but also the knocking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood

Moderate: Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

another_dahlia's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Child death, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Death, and Suicide

hannahpings's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Car accident, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

filipa_maia's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

So... I was expecting a little bit more from this book. Being my favorite genre and so acclaimed (this book was the inspiration for the Netflix series) I was expecting pure, dark horror.

Don't get me wrong, the book is good: a haunted house and a bunch of people living in it is the perfect plot to a great book. We get all the classics: knocks on the doors, footsteps when nobody is around, people acting in a very weird way. But that was not enough. The dialogs are long, superficial and, sometimes, very confusing - almost as if it was written to be a script and not a actual book. The characters are annoying and you never, truly, understand if that's how they really are or if that's part of the house's influence. Maybe that's the intention, after all. But we will never find out.

For me, there is a lot of talking and not enough action. I hear very nice thing about the series so I'm going to give it a try. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Alcohol

finleyfrogreads's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Confinement, Alcohol, Blood, and Toxic friendship