Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Pisces by Melissa Broder

19 reviews

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

tacochelle's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

2.5

I'm very middle-of-the-road with this one. I think the marketing screwed it over somewhat, in that it advertises a romance with a woman in the middle of a bad breakup and mental shutdown, who gets into a relationship with a merman. Sounds like a good time. What we got is a selfish, nihilistic woman crashing at her sister's, shitting the women in her therapy group, and hating herself when she's not fucking the merman. It's a very explicit book, detailing everything about sex whether it's appealing or not. The main character is an asshole with a lot of mental health issues. You are watching from her perspective as she is actively ruining her life and those around her, right up to the end. It is meant to be uncomfortable. It is well written, just not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Mental illness, Drug abuse, and Animal death

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.

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

rgrgrg'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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Animal death, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Infidelity, and Animal cruelty

lyshbish's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense 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

1.5

started getting more and more furious as it became evident that

the dog was going to die...

Lucy is by far the most unlikable protagonist I've ever read. I think that was the point, but it was still grating that she never seemed to learn from any of her mistakes. I wish she

drowned

at the end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Excrement, Toxic friendship, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Death of parent

limpitok's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective sad fast-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: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Mental illness, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Vomit, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcoholism and Addiction

pipchiappa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

5.0

Genuinely a laugh-out-loud funny read that is both heartbreaking and hopeful. With painfully relatable reflections on love, relationships, and sex Broder leaves us with the final question of ‘do we actually need love?’  A lot of realism and a bit of magic, this is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Toxic friendship, and Self harm

codecat's review against another edition

dark funny 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts