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grave_liminal's reviews
5 reviews
The Deep by Nick Cutter
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Animal death, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Self harm, and Sexual assault
Minor: Death of parent
Carrie by Stephen King
dark
medium-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
2.0
The objectification of women and minors, as well as the glorification of sexual assault, makes this book extremely hard to read. It also opens a very large discussion about fatphobia in literature.
If you removed every single female description and sex scene from this book, it would’ve been a solid 4 stars. The repetition of the “breast” descriptions were so frequent that it seemed like a joke, a book written by a 12 year old boy. Disappointed that this was my first experience reading a King novel, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Would never reread it, and would barely recommend it other than the purpose of being able to say you’ve read a horror classic.
If you removed every single female description and sex scene from this book, it would’ve been a solid 4 stars. The repetition of the “breast” descriptions were so frequent that it seemed like a joke, a book written by a 12 year old boy. Disappointed that this was my first experience reading a King novel, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Would never reread it, and would barely recommend it other than the purpose of being able to say you’ve read a horror classic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Rape, Religious bigotry, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death and Fatphobia
Minor: Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Miscarriage
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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
Would have been rated higher, around 3 stars, however, the author is a disgusting person. Many people have dropped their ratings on his actions alone. However, the storyline for the book is practically stolen from a movie titled Rear Window. If you are unfamiliar with old films, you will miss out on a lot of references and they get old after a while.
For a 430 paged book, the true tense thrill didn’t start until around chapter 92 (roughly about 50 pages until the end) out of 100 chapters. This entire book focuses on the main character’s grief, denial, and severely irresponsible drinking problem. This book is also almost entirely single-location based on the character’s agoraphobia. While the book itself can keep you wondering who’s the murderer, some find it predictable. I also found myself being correct about most of the plot twists. The action in the story is very minimal and slow paced. If it weren’t for wanting to know who the killer was, I would have DNFed it for the pure waste of half the book.
For a 430 paged book, the true tense thrill didn’t start until around chapter 92 (roughly about 50 pages until the end) out of 100 chapters. This entire book focuses on the main character’s grief, denial, and severely irresponsible drinking problem. This book is also almost entirely single-location based on the character’s agoraphobia. While the book itself can keep you wondering who’s the murderer, some find it predictable. I also found myself being correct about most of the plot twists. The action in the story is very minimal and slow paced. If it weren’t for wanting to know who the killer was, I would have DNFed it for the pure waste of half the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Grief, Car accident, Alcoholism, and Cursing
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Murder
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
After by Francine Prose
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
For a better experience, I recommend watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers before reading this book because it is referenced a number of times. However, you don’t have to watch the movie to understand the book. We don’t get much of any character backstory for the friend group, but the plot is good enough to have empathy for them. I would have enjoyed this book more if I was in high school, as that’s the target audience for this book. I was pleasantly surprised upon discovering that the author had enough guts to kill off two members of the friend group.
Though the plot is a bit silly in a way, I feel like the book does talk about an extremely underrepresented and dangerous practice. As per another review I read, this book was written in 2003, only a few years after 9/11 and columbine, which is a time period characterized by school shootings and high security.Those who love true crime podcasts are well aware of wilderness camps/rehabilitation and the horrors that happen within them. I would have never guessed that it would be the focal point of this book and I was grateful to see them have a negative representation in a random fictional book I picked up. It came as a very big and unique surprise.
Though the plot is a bit silly in a way, I feel like the book does talk about an extremely underrepresented and dangerous practice. As per another review I read, this book was written in 2003, only a few years after 9/11 and columbine, which is a time period characterized by school shootings and high security.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Mass/school shootings and Murder
Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I rated this book a 1/5 for quite a few reasons. The biggest reason being the sexual assault descriptions that occurred within the book, that is never addressed or called out as sexual assault. The offender is also never punished for the offenses and the book almost glorifies and sexualizes the assaults. Writing about a minor discovering their sexuality based on “not hating” the sexual assault he experiences, that he would have realistically been traumatized from, is beyond distasteful.
This book also brings up the question of who has the right to write about certain topics. I find it incredibly harmful to write a book of this manor while having minimal experience with suicide, self harm, sexual assault, or psychological wards. As someone who’s experienced most of the content in the book, the character’s experiences and reactions were unrealistic and far from relatable. Also reading the words “cat poop” every 2 pages gets extremely old.
This book also brings up the question of who has the right to write about certain topics. I find it incredibly harmful to write a book of this manor while having minimal experience with suicide, self harm, sexual assault, or psychological wards. As someone who’s experienced most of the content in the book, the character’s experiences and reactions were unrealistic and far from relatable. Also reading the words “cat poop” every 2 pages gets extremely old.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Self harm, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, and Suicide
Minor: Drug use
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