Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh

9 reviews

laurahartfield's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, Sexual violence, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Mental illness, Drug use, Gore, Suicide, Self harm, Animal death, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

anditsreal's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

2.75

They're humid, prepossessing Homo sapiens with full-sized aortic pumps. That's all I could think of while reading this book. 

I'm a hit or miss kind of person with literary fiction. This one didn't do it for me. Words felt unnecessary and I'm not sure I have much more interest for woman-obsessed-with-woman stories anymore. However, the real-life story that inspired this book sounds fascinating and I'll definitely do more research about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Physical abuse

celticthistle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Body shaming, Infidelity, and Self harm

caroisreading's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

3.0

The title alone had me interested in this book. It's right up my alley in terms of deranged female narrators taking us through an unsettling ride. 

The story shifts between Elodie's POV as a baker's wife, and her letters to her friend Violet. It starts plain and quite boring, unravels very slowly, and then drops the plot twist over a few pages in a nightmarish daze. 

The main theme is obsession, the need to live as someone else, and steal their life, their love, their intimacies. It's a heavy focus on masochistic, degrading fantasy, born from boredom, neglect, and Elodie's invisibility as a woman and sexual being. 

The writing is one long fever dream that gets more twisted and confusing as you go. It was hard for me to find footing, which is probably purposeful. Even the time period was hard for me to figure out. This kind of verbose, vague inner monologue writing style often loses me, but give it a try if you're into that, as well as really demented characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Blood, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Infidelity, Torture, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

j_squaredd's review

dark reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, and Sexual content

mstall_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

This might be my FAVORITE book of 2024 and we're only 3 weeks in. A lot of other reviews state that this book was "vibes only" with no plot, and like if you can't appreciate good literature just say so. Cursed Bread is a story of a woman sick with desire who wants to consume a beautiful newcomer and her husband who just settled in their small French village a few years post WW2. 

This story was inspired by a true series of events, and Sophie does a magical job of making you feel like you're reading personal accounts from those days. Writing in first person usually reads as lazy and sloppy to me. It's very rare that first person narrative is done truly well, and Cursed Bread is that exception. You feel like you are reading the personal journal of a woman going slowly mad with boredom, lust, jealousy, and disgust. I highly, highly recommend. I will be thinking about this book for years. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, and Physical abuse

Minor: War, Mental illness, Vomit, and Suicide

erisouls's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

If you enjoyed reading Bitter Orange you will enjoy this book. It felt strangely similar at times. I liked it enough to read it all in one sitting but I wouldn’t pick it up again, nor do I think I would tell anyone else to read it. 

I was incredibly disappointed that Violet and Élodie never hooked up. I realize that thematically, the ending made sense, however I was crushed hearing how cruel they were to her. Perhaps I am the gullible one for thinking they were ever interested.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Body horror, Death, Sexual content, Abandonment, Grief, and Infidelity

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

misskatz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship

madamelacy's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The cursed bread almost seems quite peripheral until towards the end of the book. However, this is a gripping tale of a woman who becomes infatuated with a couple who move into the village. Disturbing, bizarre things start to happen and hilarity does not ensue. Highly recommend. Read trigger warnings though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship