Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

10 reviews

001's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicide, Grief, and Incest

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Ableism

xin's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm and Suicide

Minor: Incest and Rape

buildingtaste's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-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

3.75

The Thirteenth Tale is a satisfying gothic send-up, complete with name drops of all the usual 19th-century suspects. However, by placing all the dark twists in the distant past, Setterfield keeps the book from being too tense; like the narrator, readers are encouraged to approach the story-within-a-story as a puzzle, and the "present" action is mostly sedate. Still, with its laundry list of grim events, this one is not for the faint-hearted. Mind the content warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Bullying, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexism, and Infidelity

Multiple relationships are codependent, violent, controlling and incestuous/bordering on incestuous.

Major characters are revealed to be the likely product of incest and rape.

Multiple violent and disturbing deaths, self-inflicted and by others. Some characters live in isolation and neglect their home; the decay and unsanitary conditions are described in detail. Terminal illness is a major plot point. The death of siblings and grief is a major plot point. A character is institutionalized. A character is confined for a medical/psychological experiment. Multiple characters are shown self-harming as children and adults.

A character attempts to murder an infant.

karenmsecrest's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

A gothic tale with many twists and turns and ultimately a satisfying ending. I just finished this afternoon, and might need to think about it before writing a full review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Abandonment and Suicide

contrapasso's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Self harm

Minor: Ableism

mitchell_1's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Abandonment, Child abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Chronic illness, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Dementia, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Child death, Suicide, and Ableism

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Vomit

artemishi's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I love an unreliable narrator and a twisty mystery, and this had plenty of both. It's not a quick read, though it's well-paced and with good character development, but it was engaging throughout most of the story. 

I was more caught up in Vida's story than Margaret's, though I think that was by author design- there's far more meat (including disturbing familial events) in Vida's history which make the large gap between her young childhood and her now elderly circumstances that much more intriguing. Margaret, on the other hand, is mostly soggy toast who doesn't eat or feel or seem very aware of herself. She's caught in some grief loop about what she's lost, but it was a bit tiresome given it's her only character quality. The dynamic between the two- one pretty much lifeless, the other quite sassy and mysterious, works well to keep the story from feeling melodramatic. 

The relationship between Margaret and her father was particularly touching, an the whole thing left a solid impression in my mind even days after finishing it (and I'm tempted to re-read it someday). 

I definitely recommend it for fans of mysteries, history, and nuanced storytelling. Be aware, the story contains references to self-harm, incest, suicide, sexual assault, child neglect, child abandonment, and Alzheimer's. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Self harm, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Murder, and Incest

paulasnotsosecretdiary's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The 13th Tale is a gothic novel about family secrets and legacies. The story touches upon the connection between twins, which has a little overall impact on the plot. The narrator, Margaret, is grieving over the loss of her twin and her mother. She works in her father's bookstore and writes biographies of notable scientists and others. Hired to write the biography of beloved author Vida Winters, Margaret untangles Vida's complicated family history, a history Vida has told in half-truths and outright lies in interviews. The truth is more terrible than Vida has let anyone believe, filled with incest, rape, child abuse, hunger, and physical and emotional neglect. Despite the split timeline of the story structure and parallels between Margaret and Vida's lives, by the end of the novel, we know little more about Margaret than we did at the beginning, but everything about Vida. The ending feels over-edited as though the author was strongly advised to conclude the book on a positive note with everything neatly tied up. However, the author's writing and pacing are on point, and a love of writing, words and books is a highlight of the book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide

keroseberry's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Suicide

paolina's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Prose a little too purple for me, plot a little too plodding, and drama a bit too messy for me to enjoy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Vomit, Drug use, and Dementia