Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Paradais by Fernanda Melchor

20 reviews

connieevans's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.0

This was just too brutal and too much for me. I can appreciate what (I think) Melchor is trying to do - highlight how poverty/wealth can warp an individuals grasp on life and what is worth doing and what they’re entitled to do - however I really struggled to see past the disgustingness of this novel and I just spent the whole time feeling sick and wanting it to end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, Torture, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Alcohol

whatadutchgirlreads's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Fatphobia, Violence, Cursing, Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, and Murder

Moderate: Excrement, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, and Classism

cmcrockford's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Pretty great crime novella even if part of me thinks it should be a short story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic friendship, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Classism, Excrement, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Vomit, Murder, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Incest, and Sexism

Moderate: Ableism

Trigger warning seems like a pretty useless phrase for this book.

syd_the_bookish_kid's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Stalking, Drug abuse, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Racism, Pregnancy, Blood, Ableism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Cursing, Addiction, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Excrement, Fatphobia, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Toxic friendship

sarrna's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, Torture, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Gore, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Bullying, Rape, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Classism, and Child abuse

kia_y_k's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Body shaming, Sexual content, Misogyny, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, and Toxic friendship

veelaughtland's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Sexism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic friendship, Torture, Stalking, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Gun violence, Gore, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Cursing, Child abuse, Body shaming, Blood, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Pregnancy

suepergurl's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

this is a slow, excruciating burner with an explosion at the end.
I gave it 2 stars only because I couldn't like the characters at all and they just live a very miserable life with no signs of hope. Also the ending is a bit traumatizing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Violence

jlebon's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

3.25

Whilst I did still overall enjoy this book, it is undoubtedly a frustrating read from cover-to-cover. Whether it is Melchor's sprawling sentences and aversion to punctuation, paragraphs or chapters, or the fact that nothing really happens for the first 95% of the book and the narrative climax is condensed into a few, brief, confusing final pages, there are a number of criticisms I have with this book.

This is particularly frustrating in that I think the concept of the text is fantastic, being extremely dark in nature, presenting incel culture through the lens of the two main characters Polo and Franco and the destructive effect this mindset has upon both themselves and the people around them. However, Melchor has to be given plaudits in her nuanced presentation of such issues, cultivating characters that are products of their environment and aspects of society. Nevertheless, I do think that this was elongated to an unnecessary extent with a great portion of the middle of the text going over well-trodden ground. However, I understand how this could also be symbolic of the trapped mindset the protagonist Polo finds himself in.

As a final point, given the huge build-up to the climax of the narrative, I found the ending unsatisfactory in its briefness and confusing nature.

Again, I understand that this is representative of Polo's loss of mind but for the build-up I wanted that bit more.

By no means a bad book but I definitely think it could have been improved in a multitude of aspects.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Rape, Body shaming, Death, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Emotional abuse

gerzonvillegas's review against another edition

dark 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Classism, Cursing, Murder, Death, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Excrement, Rape, and Incest