Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

A Biblioteca da Meia-Noite by Matt Haig

162 reviews

catalyst226's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Not spoiling too much because I really want other folks to read this one. It's a really fun take on the "life is what you make of it" trope. It reads like vignettes and has a very "feel good" vibe overall. It did, however, hit incredibly close to home with the themes (suicide, death of a parent, grief/loss, and depression/anxiety), so be warned.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Mental illness

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

roouija's review against another edition

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? Yes

2.75

Incredibly mid tier and offers a bland take on mental health issues (that it insists is revolutionary). 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Pregnancy, Death, Car accident, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol

lubotomy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Medical content, Outing, Animal cruelty, Vomit, and Addiction

sillyduckie's review against another edition

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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Death of parent, Suicide, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Death, Alcohol, and Grief

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Animal cruelty, and Medical content

mayze's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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

3.75

Interesting concept but the execution could have been better. 

The last half of the book feels rushed and predictable. The characters were well written and it's still a decent read. 

I feel that this is a self-help book disguised as a work of fiction, the last two chapters were pretty blatant about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Abandonment, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Grief, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood

hannahjuliano's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

2.75

could've read a self-help book if i wanted to

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt

shieldbearer's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

1.0

The more i think absout it, the more I dislike this book. It's literally just "It's A Wonderful Life" but with all the nuance and anti-capitalism stripped away. 

This book is obstensibly about finding a purpose and seeing the good things in life, but it's literally just "oh you see none of the bad things that happened were actually YOUR FAULT and you are unfair to blame yourself for them" I would have been fine if this was the result of one or two of the anecdotes but this was the message of LITERALLY ALL of them. There's no nuance here and our main character barely has a personality. 

 The writer of this book has clearly actually experienced depression, which makes this worse and proves that Own Voices isn't inherently superior. (I'm depressed too so don't come at me, I know what I'm talking about.) This writer has also definitely never experienced any actual money problems- the protagonist's vague thought at the end of the book, after being so desperately broke that they couldn't afford an uber, was "oh, I'll find some money somewhere tomorrow and buy that nice old man flowers." This line alone would have prompted a one star review. JUST FIND SOME MONEY??? JUST FIND SOME MONEY????? 

Also yes turning your cat outdoors DOES actually make you a bad cat owner. hate this book, the more you think about it the more it falls apart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Death of parent, Classism, Car accident, Dementia, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Animal death, and Panic attacks/disorders

niamphoone's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Grief, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm

vii_412's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

"And that sadness is intrinsically part of the fabric of happiness. You can’t have one without the other. Of course, they come in different degrees and quantities. But there is no life where you can be in a state of sheer happiness for ever. And imagining there is just breeds more unhappiness in the life you’re in."

Me gustó el libro? Sí 
Lo disfruté? Sí 
Pero por alguna razón se sintió vacío, este es un libro de autoayuda, y entiendo porque a mucha gente no le gustó, sin embargo, ese es el propósito del libro, el dar una perspectiva optimista sobre la vida, el cómo nosotros decidimos sobre nuestro destino y el lugar en el que estamos, sin embargo, hay que tener en cuenta que la depresión es un tema MUY COMPLEJO, las personas no experimentan el mismo grado de depresión y estoy segura que sí hay personas que han llegado a la misma conclusión que Nora. 

Sí me parecieron algunas partes un poco lentas y aburridas, pero en general me gustó, me sentí un poco identificada con Norma, yo también perdí a una de mis gatita y sentí que el mundo se me iba de las manos, me siento en una posición en la que no sé qué hago con mi vida y que estoy estancada, y por supuesto que me gustaría saber cómo son las vidas de mis otros yo, pero eso sólo quedaría en mi imaginación. 

Sí te gusta este hype por los multiversos y quieres una historia optimista sobre la vida y la muerte, tal vez te guste este libro. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Cancer, Gaslighting, Medical content, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Suicide, and Vomit

Minor: Alcoholism, Addiction, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Abandonment, and Alcohol

ayerobiin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Car accident, Death of parent, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Animal death, Cancer, Cursing, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Drug abuse, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual content, and Pregnancy