Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Brutes by Dizz Tate

11 reviews

wykirsty's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Classism, Death of parent, Rape, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

seventhswan's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I've seen other reviewers describe this as a "no plot, just vibes" book, but I thought there was actually a very clear storyline! It was creative and nuanced, reminding me of Stewart O'Nan's Ocean State and, as was clearly intended, The Virgin Suicides. That's not to say the vibes weren't immaculate - a sort of "pretty horror" - and Tate is an extremely talented descriptive writer who made my skin crawl at times with her imagery. I thought the shared narration worked extremely well throughout, but especially in making the conclusion of the novel extremely impactful. I cried multiple times. 

This would have been the perfect book for me, ticking all the boxes - well-written, evocative, personally meaningful, distinctive characters - had it not then relied on

the existence of an actual monster

at the end... magical realism strikes again. Sex traffickers and child neglect are monstrous enough! Introducing fantastical elements cheapened these very real issues a little for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Alcohol, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Toxic friendship, and Body horror

orlagal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Excrement, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Classism, Death, Racism, Sexual assault, Vomit, Alcohol, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Stalking, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Chronic illness, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

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

5.0

I found this book on book tok. I added it to my tbr because it seemed really weird and slightly unsettling.

This book lived up to the hype for me. It was  mysterious throughout and definitely at times was unsettling. I loved the chapters written in first-person plural. The imagery was so fun and it really reminded me of the groups of girls I would hang out with growing up. The way they interacted in the weird and gross ways only early teenagers can understand felt really nostalgic. The ending was giving a very much Florida story. I completely devoured this book and really annoyed how clever it was.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault, Violence, and Suicide

kcakes719's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

An interesting and poetic book with a murky but captivating plot. The collective first-person “we” narrative was interesting and I haven’t read anything like it. To be honest, I’m not sure at all what happened in this entire book, but I do know that I will not be able to stop thinking about it for a long time.

Remember being thirteen? That shit was fucked up.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Suicide

elysh_kaye's review

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Suicide, Self harm, and Pedophilia

alepet's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-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? Yes

3.0

The premise of the book was really intriguing, but I thought some of the scenes/descriptions went on for longer than they needed to, a beautiful metaphor was often lost in the ten that followed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Child abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Suicide and Animal cruelty

geophony's review against another edition

4.0

Still processing (it gets kind of confusing, especially towards the end) but I loved the writing style, I loved the first-person plural narration, and the motifs of stones and doors are really intriguing.

I think I like the confusion/surreality. It's the sort of book where I think I'd get a lot out of a re-read. I should have checked the content warnings before reading but that's on me!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy and Suicide

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Immediately intrigued and pulled in! Brutes held my attention even though I didn’t understand it half the time 😅

Switching timelines, told mostly through a group POV (using “we” as it tells the story of the whole group) and the future timelines which feature one chapter from each character in a sort of “where are they now” POV. The novel forms a story of girlhood, jealousy, and loyalty with religious and dark undertones!

This was a quick and captivating read but not as dark as I expected based on the synopsis.

Expected a mystery where we learn what happened but we never really do. I was especially confused by the ending.

Very weird story and confusing but I kind of liked it? Definition of no plot just vibes, which I don’t usually enjoy but the writing and characters held me. I really enjoyed the imagery and lyrical prose! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Animal death

Moderate: Bullying, Suicide, Sexual assault, and Alcoholism

apologygirl's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

the structure feels abit disjointed and i found that, during the flash forwards when they discussed something that hadnt occurred yet in the book i got a little confused but linguistically it is amazingly written the descriptions are perfectly detailed in a way that isnt rambly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Rape, and Alcoholism