Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

7 reviews

nomenleftalive's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Had a lovely time reading it, but the end was not the payoff that the rest of the book is promised. Still worth a read though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Incest, and Vomit

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.

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

t_higgsreviews's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

5 Stars
CAWPILE = 9.43

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Terminal illness, Self harm, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Vomit, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Excrement, and Medical content

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Excrement, Grief, Terminal illness, and Vomit

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Incest

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

booksteaandchocolate's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

 Oh man this book is a wild freaking ride.

I went into this book knowing very little and to be honest I think that is the best way for someone to read this book. To say the least most people say its a mystery of why an author picks this woman to be her biographer, but I would greatly disagree with that. This book is more of a story about siblings and their relationships. Its hard to explain it without giving anything away so I will leave it be.

After reading it you are left with this compulsion to read it again so you can read it with the knowledge of what's actually happening and see it with new eyes. I kept having to jump back and forth because I kept trying to connect scenes.

The book is soooo atmospheric and has a very gothic feeling to the writing. I really love how immersive it feels.

I was so freaking emotional at the end of the book that it was a bit ridiculous. Even with how dark and twisted the whole story is you feel so much compassion for the characters and hearing their stories can be a little overwhelming. I truly loved the entire experience though. I highly recommend this to any gothic readers or mystery lovers. Such a good book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Self harm, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, and Child abuse

Minor: Alcoholism, Vomit, Sexual violence, and Rape