Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Witching Hour by Anne Rice

4 reviews

cuteasamuntin's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

2.75

I’m not sure I particularly liked this book. It isn’t a particularly fun or nice read, but I can already tell that it’s going to really stick with me. While it’s slow enough that I was at times impatient for Rice to get on with it, the narrative was still very compelling.

I really enjoyed the family chronology and learning more about the Talamasca. My favorite parts were 1) the deep and pure expressions of familial and romantic love dappled throughout an otherwise grim and haunting story and 2) Michael

in a joyous frenzy over restoring the house, to the point that I was hanging onto every word about his historically accurate and thoughtful renovations

, but the latter is probably just a hazard of my day job.

Funnily enough, I just didn’t care at all about the spirit Lasher, to the point that I found myself actively bored when

he is finally present in the narrative and begins interacting directly with Rowan

. I think this may have been a stronger story without that aspect being so explicitly present. This may, of course, be in part to already knowing the general principles of how spirits/“demons” work in the Anne Rice universe due to being a dedicated admirer of Maharat and her Great Family™ from The Vampire Chronicles. 

For audiobook listeners, the talented Kate Reading really makes this heavy tome a lot less of a slog. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Medical content, Dementia, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Kidnapping, Car accident, Abortion, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Colonisation

lyfeistrip's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

dragonaion's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is my fourth book of Rice's that I've read, the first being the Beauty trilogy, and this was a very different pace than I was expecting. 
It is on the slower side, looping in years of history like a story-in-a-story that can be at times, hard to read. Half of the book is about the Mayfair history and I can't count the number of times I thought, "Is this really all necessary to the story?" 
This is a dark read, as Rice is known for, and while hard for some readers, it is filled with interesting complex thoughts and ideas. Heavily Christian, it adds a contrast to the questioned morals shown by the characters and their situations. It appears that the book is character driven, however the arching plot is revealed at the end and loops the entire story together, as if you're riding down the ribbon as you read to suddenly find yourself atop a perfectly wrapped present, bow and all, on the last page. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Minor: Racial slurs, Terminal illness, and Abortion

As Rice is known for, she is not shy with the sexual content and rough concepts, and she is going back in history, so there is some underage content, slavery, and "okay at the time" wording that may disturb some readers.

fra_ci90's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail