Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - Death in Her Hands

Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

44 reviews

kadinelouise's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.25

This was one of the strangest books I have ever read. The MC’s internal monologue is the majority of the story, so it is interesting to see how she is interpreting the world around her into the story she is spinning. Made me think a lot about growing old, loneliness, and dealing with the world’s demons.

Content Warnings

kellyisntcool's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious medium-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

3.0

My first go at this book was with the audio version. Really interesting experience but I felt like I increasingly fell off due to just how insane the narrator is. A cool effect to listen to, being she’s peak unreliable narrator and the book is her stream of consciousness. I look forward to reading a physical version to see if that changes my rating.

Content Warnings

acrosstheskyinstars's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious sad 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

2.5

Content Warnings

blyttgh's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging 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

3.5

03/13/24 3.5/5 stars. I loved how claustrophobic being in the narrator’s mind felt. The intensity of her stream of consciousness almost made up for the sparse plot but overall it felt like something was missing. Maybe that was an intentional oversight to really connect how deteriorated her mental state was or maybe it really was all for nothing.

Content Warnings

pkc's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This was such a bizarre book and I thiiiiink I get what it was going for. However, if you’re picking it up and thinking “ooh look a small murder mystery” it’s much more and I don’t know if I’d consider it a spoiler to say there’s no neat resolution. There are a ton of hints that suggest what has likely happened but no resolution per se. Vesta as a main character was fascinating but -

her actions strike me as being the actions of someone who is aging and trying to make sense of a traumatic life with a loathsome man as her mind fragments from age and trauma

This is the third Otessa Moshfegh book I’ve read and as with her previous books, it was wholly unlike anything else I’ve read.

Content Warnings