Reviews tagging 'Rape'

When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O'Neill

59 reviews

thespellboundlibraries's review

dark informative 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? Yes

2.0

most annoying writing style ever it was just “they did this and then they did this and then they did this and they felt this way because of this” like my god just show me the story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

noel_k's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

It is a book one must give 4 stars because it is a beautifully grotesque atrocity, reminiscent of Nabokov. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Animal death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Abortion, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Toxic relationship

jlye's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

I liked the themes of this book, but don’t want to give too much away in a review. I found the plot to be quite fast-paced until I got closer to the ending. The characters are deeply, deeply flawed, which made for an interesting story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexism, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content

Moderate: Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, Murder, Transphobia, and Child death

plushmaya's review

slow-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? Yes

1.0

cannot believe i finished this book. tells and never shows, plodding sentences with extremely simple structure, tiktok feminism galore. o'neill's concept of oppressors is infuriatingly simple and divorced from life - her men want to abuse women because they explicitly hate when women have power. how do you conceive of a book with overt, overdone marie antoinette parallels and write nothing ornate?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

navitalks's review

dark inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This is the best book I’ve read in the last few years. The writing is incredible and the story is never to be expected. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Drug use, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Death, Abortion, Cursing, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

jupiterbb's review

dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Violence

camrich's review

adventurous dark slow-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Sexual violence, Rape, Abortion, Animal death, and Dysphoria

Minor: Domestic abuse and Drug use

brighgreen's review

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Reading this, at times, felt like what I imagine being in an opium den feels like.
I didn’t like anyone but George. But then again, women don’t exist solely to be liked. Good book but I felt it was unnecessarily sexual, much like Sadie’s book, so maybe it was too much on purpose. It also felt important though I don’t know what I actually took away from it. But I did enjoy it. A little different than what I’ve been reading lately and I’m happy to branch out sometimes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Sexual violence, Violence, Suicide, Sexual content, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Toxic friendship

carrioncollector's review

medium-paced

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

3.0

When We Lost Our Heads is extremely strong in the beginning, when the main characters are children. The descriptions of Montreal are vivid and the children are deliciously psychopathic. Unfortunately I found the rest of the book a slog to get through. The narrative style, which many people really enjoyed, felt like a lot of "telling" and not very much "showing". This is an obvious stylistic choice, but it was one that I wasn't big on. "As if she were" was probably the most commonly used phrase in the book and by the end of it, I couldn't wait to be done! That said, there were a lot of beautifully described moments. I loved the description of

Mary falling through the ice and then having her neck snap at the gallows

. George was also fantastic. I think in addition to the prose not working for me, I kept waiting for some larger commentary on capitalism. Ultimately the commentary that was there felt shallow and very second wave feminist. If you like reading Victorian novels, then I think O'Neill has done an fanstic job replicating the feeling of that style of writing. Personally, it's not something I'm a huge fan of. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

portiabturner's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape