Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

25 reviews

yafi's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Death, Cursing, Murder, and Confinement

Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, Misogyny, Blood, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Cancer, Car accident, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

m4rtt4's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

The premise was very promising, and I was quite hooked on the story despite it not being as funny as it was said to be. Yes, it was funny at times, but oftentimes the 'humour' relied on (internalized) misogyny and/or fatphobia and/or belittling mental health issues and eating disorders — this is also why I found the book's feminist takes to be quite hypocritical. I hated Grace as a character, she was so insufferable, annoying, petty and too bitter over the smallest of things, but I stuck up with her because — well — you can't quite love a serial killer anyways. I liked the ending, it was justified and fit perfectly with my dislike on Grace, though I also must say that such a plot twist should have been foreshadowed better. A murder mystery is no fun if it doesn't make you feel dumb for not realising the answer earlier; it shouldn't come so out of the blue (as in this case) that it feels literally impossible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, Grief, Murder, Death of parent, and Stalking

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Violence, Fatphobia, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness

missmali's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Car accident, Classism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Sexual content

leoniekross's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

1.5

If I was being generous, I would describe this book as unintentionally funny. And that is unfortunately the only thing it has going for it. 
We follow Grace, the protagonist, as she narrates how she successfully killed several members of her family over the course of, I would say, about a year or two but was imprisoned for a murder she claims she did not commit.

The plot, while based on an exciting premise reminiscent of the tv series Revenge (if you haven't seen it, I can recommend it far more than this book), was sorely lacking in consistency in tension-building as well as planning and follow-through of the murders. The non-chronological storytelling definitely didn't do it any favours either. 
From an editing perspective, I found the present-day prison chapters added nothing to the story and should have been omitted entirely. Would have been the same story but snappier if we had followed along as the crimes unfolded. That would even have given the chance for some insight into impulsive feelings and frantic thoughts that could have humanized the protagonist/narrator a lot. 

Instead we got detached, brain-rottingly sarcastic misanthropy and fatphobic pick-me girl behaviour. After 200 pages she still keeps it up; we get it, you like nothing and nobody. Can we please. move. on. now. Sure, the author succeeded in creating an unlikable character but not in writing one I'd actually want to listen to. 

All that is made worse by Grace thinking she's the smartest person in any room while behaving so dumb it hurts. She plans to murder her whole family but calling it a plan is a definitive overstatement.

She more so lucks into chance encounters and opportunities (even saying herself that she doesn't have a clue how to go about the murders beyond a vague idea) all while putting herself in immediate danger - driving headfirst towards another car on a cliff at full speed? Big brain energy right there. And then she takes keepsake trophies off her first few victims - a habit that is neither explained nor continued after a while nor has any consequences. It's not even mentioned after I believe the second death. Not even when she thinks about the police raiding her apartment.

 
Also, and this is definitely a petty one, she refuses to use the word whom. Sure, it's a nitpick but when a character is so convinced they are better and smarter than all the peasants around her, missed details like that only serve to make her look pathetic. Grace's stupidity is unfortunately what made me the most invested in this story.
The ending felt completely out of left field too. I was convinced for the longest time that

Kelly, Grace's cellmate, was an undercover PI hired by Simon Artemis (who had faked his own death) to dig up anything connecting Grace to the murders of his family. But no, instead we get the surprise long lost sibling arc within the established long lost daughter arc. Some long-winded explanation of family ties written by a self-righteous, kinda sexist asshole that makes Grace look even more naive and careless. A cliffhanger so bad you want to jump over the edge right alongside the characters.

It's not cozy, not intelligent, not suspenseful, and definitely not a good set-up for the sequel that the ending seems to lead into. Can't recommend it to anyone, really.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Stalking, Grief, Torture, and Car accident

Minor: Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Fatphobia

marieke17's review against another edition

funny 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: Death, Death of parent, Blood, Body shaming, Hate crime, Murder, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, Sexual content, Stalking, Gaslighting, Violence, and Pedophilia

matthiasreads's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Death, Alcohol, Misogyny, Drug use, Confinement, Classism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Eating disorder, Cancer, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

dorsetreader's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Grief, and Emotional abuse

aliciachauhan_'s review against another edition

dark funny informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, Violence, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

jennifer1130's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

I've likely judged this book more harshly that I might otherwise because of the heavy pushing of this book to me via social media adverts by the publisher. Having said that the absolutely max it deserves is 3 stars on a good day.

What a disappointment. The premise of this book is interesting, killing your whole family for revenge but there is nothing clever nor interesting about this story. Instead it trawls laboriously through dull plot and follows the format of basic intro to, this is how I killed person 1, this is how I killed person 2, person 3 etc. With a few brief flip backs to the present day where the main character Grace is in prison and is writing her diary style story. The diary style story really irritated me with its 'need to go now' endings. Who has time to write that in a diary when there's something you actually need to go for??

I didn't really believe at any point that I was in the mind of someone capable of killing 6 people. It felt like a fictional story. A highly unlikely one. The particular low point involved an uncle in a sex club while Grace rants about feminism and the privilege of the white man. 

I have no idea how this book got such a big marketing budget. It's just cheap throwaway rubbish. Such a shame. I just expected and needed more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Child death, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Eating disorder, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Incest, and Terminal illness

florecita_lectora's review against another edition

dark funny 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, and Murder