Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Pisces by Melissa Broder

48 reviews

roshma's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense 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

I downloaded this ebook because booktok was tagging this a fish/mermaid-sex. This book is so much more than that. This is not meant to be a light read. This books deals with depression, self harm, low self esteem, toxic relationships and addiction. The internal monologues of the protagonist is lengthy and talks in great depth on each of the subjects, a lot of self reflections and slowly breaking from harmful patterns. The conflict is presented naturally: and the climb is slow. Do not pick this book if are looking for smut 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Addiction, and Suicidal thoughts

niltic's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Darkly, darkly funny. This book is good, and the humour and delivery felt very fresh/contemporary to me. It's incredible that Broder can weave in so many tones and dark themes and jokes into one tight package. I laughed out loud multiple times, but reader beware that some topics won't be for everyone.  I knew very little and found the plot quite surprising, depressing and silly! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Animal death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Drug abuse and Animal cruelty

Suicide and depression

is a very pervasive theme in the book. Most plot and character elements relate to this theme, so I think it would be hard to engage with the book at all if this is a no-go zone for you. (Somehow, the book makes this sad and funny!)

bold's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Infidelity, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Death of parent

murphy87's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

2.0

Just wtf.  It was good on the emotional soul searching part but everything else was just too painful to read. Lucy is so so terrible and obviously a love addict who's ex boyfriend strung her along. She goes off the rails but not so totally that you can feel for her or excuse her.  The very graphic detailed sex scenes also felt unnecessary or just added for shock value. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Addiction, and Animal death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

feralbookwife's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-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

3.75

A very weird book that I very much enjoyed. If you wanted to like the Midnight Library but didn’t, this is a cheeky look at the Void and what we do to cope. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Drug use, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Grief, Infidelity, Drug abuse, and Mental illness

whiddengem's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

2.25

Found out there's more than one way to interpret Pisces.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death and Suicide attempt

Minor: Toxic friendship and Pregnancy

Interspecies sex happens.

kaddictwithapen's review against another edition

challenging funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Sexual content

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Blood

r_o_s_e's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, Sexual content, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infidelity, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Excrement, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Suicide attempt, Blood, and Car accident

michelleka's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Animal death, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Mental illness, Infidelity, and Death of parent

not_another_ana's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I had felt, for a long time, that if I started crying I would not stop—that if I finally ripped, there would be nothing to stop my guts from falling out. I was scared of what might come out of me: the things I would see, what others would see. I was scared the feelings would eat me.

The explosive end of a long term relationship has left Lucy depressed, with a restraining order, and court ordered therapy. Fleeing the desert for sunny California, on her sister's insistence, all she has to do is attend group therapy, housesit, take care of Dominic, the sweetest little dog, and perhaps work on her thesis on Sappho. But healing isn't easy, specially when you don't believe you're the problem, and it's easy to get distracted. Things get out of control when a mysterious surfer with a secret catches Lucy's obsessive attention, sending her on a different path altogether.

The summary calls this "a story about falling in obsessive love with a merman" but that's not what this is really about. This is sad girl lit fic. It's navel gazey, it's existential. You either get it or you don't, there's no inbetween. Did I like this? Did I enjoy this? I'm not sure, but I can't say I hated it. Lucy is a difficult character. She's unlikeable, on a downwards spiral, but this condition makes her able to see the world in a different way and to probe at the status quo. Through her exaggeration of reality shine little pearls of wisdom and reflections about life. Mostly this book, to me, showed that recovery isn't lineal. It's hard work, and it's normal to backslide and crash and burn.

The merman bit was interesting but I would have liked it to go farther.

Listen I'm not saying that I wanted the fish dick to be wilder but that's exactly what I'm saying.

This book does deal with a lot of ugly and bizarre sexual situation that might make your face scrunch up. It also has a loooot of trigger warnings, so be careful.

TW: suicide, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, animal abuse, and the dog does die :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Suicide, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Animal death, and Blood