Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill

32 reviews

arayo's review

challenging mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Death of parent

Moderate: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Eating disorder, Chronic illness, Animal death, Terminal illness, and Body horror

merlinwinter's review

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Rape, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty

missbrookss's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

dsarbear's review

dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Animal death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

pm_me_book_recs's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Heartbreaking; a tale of neglect, abuse, and violence, but also about gaining self-agency and powerful enduring love.

This one may be a tough read for those who had to grow up to early and became sibling-parents due to neglect, or anyone who has survived domestic violence. Multiple times this little story had me ugly crying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Abandonment, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

thelittle_seokmin's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

bubblegirl858's review

challenging mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.0

Kelly Barnhill loves to turn people in creatures. The transformation aspect seems to be a recurring theme of her books. I didn’t like this book as much just due to how awful every single character was. No one made it out unscathed in the end which is just so heartbreakingly sad. The crane was a dick. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content

frfiallo's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Terminal illness

its_thekla's review

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

For such a short book, this was not an easy read. It was dark and grim and difficult to stomach, topped with a vague sense of underlying discomfort throughout. The vibe was a weird mix of mildly dystopian, magical realism set in some Midwest adjacent town. 

There's not much you can really say about a book that's 140ish pages without spoiling anything, which would be a disservice to our unnamed narrator and her story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

rektress's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Small little book that is incredibly big and heavy

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Grief, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Animal death, and Animal cruelty