Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

35 reviews

k_galloway's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Racism, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Gun violence, Blood, Genocide, Homophobia, Infertility, Torture, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship

irinalast's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Torture, and War

meursault_letranger's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

good book, characters somewhat flat and meant to represent a type of reaction to society rather than be full fledged characters, which is pretty common in dystopia and works well here. i personally loved the writing style but if you need everything to be linear and make sense it might not be for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Slavery, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Infertility, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual content, Grief, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Homophobia, Alcohol, and Infidelity

chacheitor's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

A friend recommended it to me and i was not disappointed. I liked the dystopian elements and although at times it was quite slow I had a hard time putting it down at certain points. I did like how the author ended the narration, but I would have preferred a less open ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Rape

sunny_not's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Incredibly brutal and awful. It was emotionally draining to some extent since it was so heavy. Idk if I will read the second book since this was quite challenging. If the questions that are left in this are answered then I might read it. Overall not a good time dystopia of dystopias kind of vibe. Still very thought provoking and interesting, that's why I gave this a high rating however this is nowhere close to being a light read in my opinion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Infertility, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, War, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Child death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Medical content, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

q17's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Sexism, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Rape, Police brutality, and Infertility

Moderate: Hate crime, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, and Miscarriage

Minor: Child abuse, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, Classism, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Abortion, Acephobia/Arophobia, Ableism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Death, Grief, War, Mental illness, Medical content, Racism, and Violence

rachaelmele's review against another edition

reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Confinement, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Infertility

mxdegroot'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

As it has been almost two years since I've read this book and only am reviewing it now, while doing the same with other books I have read but not yet revieuwed, I can't say I remember much, but this is what I do remember.

I read this book for school and at school, which means we went pretty deep into it. This caused quite some interesting findings. For example, the names of the maids. They all start with 'of' and are followed by the name of their owner (ex.: Ofwarren, Offred), which makes it very clear that they are property and might be a way of dehumanizing them.

Now on to the actual review.

While I don't necessarily dislike literary books, I do find it very hard to get through them, so as a genre, this was not my favorite. However, this book and the genre in general are still fun to read!
What I like about this book a lot is the mystery and the dystopian setting. I love books with some angst and mystery and I am a big sucker for dystopia.

I marked the pacing as medium, because there is quite some action written pretty closely after each other time-wise, but during and between that action there is enough description of the situation and the place the books take place in, which adds to the experience and gives the reader insight in the world-building of the book.

My advice: read the book! If you're a literature lover, this is just a great piece of it, and if you're someone who doesn't enjoy reading literature too much, but wants to dip their toe into it and/or is required to read a number of literary books for school, this is definitely a recommendation, as it is not too slow paced and quite recent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Slavery, Body horror, and Rape

Moderate: Kidnapping, Gore, Murder, Pregnancy, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Body horror, Infertility, and Grief

g_monaghan's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Revolution
Misogyny 
Christian fundamentalist 
Harrowing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, War, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Rape, and Forced institutionalization

charm0nix's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Slavery, Suicide, and Violence