Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Black Iris by Elliot Wake

6 reviews

a_pocalypse's review against another edition

dark tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

I need therapy after reading this (just like all the characters in this book)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, Gore, Biphobia, Mental illness, Murder, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Outing, and Toxic relationship

frogggirl2's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.0

Stereotypical angsty, teenage tropes.  So much homophobia in the near Chicago suburbs in the modern day just doesn't track.  When they mess with Chicago geography its kind of dumb and unnecessary.  The dialog is pretty pat - quoting Emily Dickinson is hardly outré.  I can solve this overwrought, pulpy melodrama in two words: polyamory and therapy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Outing, Mass/school shootings, Hate crime, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Biphobia, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, Homophobia, Drug use, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Self harm, and Mental illness

amandamarieger's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

To say this was dark is an understatement. I think I’m going to need some time to process. I will say though - it’s more of a thriller than I realized, and I didn’t figure that out until about 30% of the way through… so then I needed to know how it ended even though I wasn’t really enjoying the book. My relatively high rating is mostly for the writing. Wake writes BEAUTIFULLY. I could feel everything. I just didn’t love the plot that was formed with the words, lol. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Biphobia, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Blood, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Sexual content, Mental illness, Gun violence, Addiction, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, and Drug use

SO. MANY. CONTENT. WARNINGS.

nicolescottwv's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Suicide

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Rape, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Minor: Grief and Stalking

mllesophie's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is better to start whithout knowing to much. I knew there was a sapphic romance, but I would not consider this book a romance. I knew it was weird. I pick this up for a beach read and i wasn't the right vibe but I couldn't stop reading it. This is a dark and twisted story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Suicide, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Bullying

Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Addiction, Homophobia, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

srr275's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Death of parent, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Stalking