Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

9 reviews

emmalizzz's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

A horrifically devastating story depicting the depths of human depravity and the inevitable barbarity of hive mind, the dehumanization of women, and the innocence of children. 

The writing is beautiful, but the story is bleak, painful, and deeply disturbing. 

Very reminiscent of the 1965 murder of Sylvia Likens. Going into this book with the knowledge that this portrays reality, and not some far off, fantasy society made this an incredibly haunting and bone-chilling read. Humans are monsters when put in the right environment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Incest, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

danimacuk's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, Excrement, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Incest, Mental illness, Vomit, and Car accident

lunababybat's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is by far one of the most disturbing fiction books I've ever read. Even though I don't believe it's classified as extreme horror or splatterpunk, it should be. But I understand why it maybe doesn't have those labels; because this story is based on real events, events even worse than what happened to Meg in this novel. The real case is the longterm torture and eventual murder of Sylvia Likens. What the real girl, Sylvia, experienced pales in comparison to even what Meg endured. And there was no David for Slyvia. No one had a change of heart or tried to help her in the end, aside from Slyvia's disabled sister.
I think Jack did a good job of trying to understand what would lead relatively normal people to participate in this type of extreme behavior against another human being. The slow dehumanization of someone led by an authority figure, how someone can become a proverbial punchingbag that's a stand in for all of life's failures. It also delves into how misogyny helps in this dehumanizing, letting Meg be seen as a "whore" and nothing but a piece of meat, even though the real issues is everyone else's inappropriate feelings towards her. Ruth is the ultimate villian and honestly got off too easy in the end. She hated herself and sought to find someone to project that hate onto, so she didn't have to face what a true monster she really was inside. 
There are some issues with the writing, and some of the language is definitely outdated, even for a book written in the 80s and set in the 50s. Overall, this is a chance for readers interested in true crime to dip their toes in the water before taking the plunge into the real cases. Because, at least in this instance, there is at least one person who does feel bad about what they did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Excrement, Death of parent, and Alcohol

bookdeviant86's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

thereadingdude's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia

waverlyloyd's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

april0727's review

dark emotional 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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Excrement, and Murder

Minor: Death of parent

morganmay's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

1.0

Is you have ANY type of PTSD of basically any kind, I do not recommend this book. INCREDIBLY graphic and horrific and based on a true story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

sarahasyouwish's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.0

In this book, Ketchum brings us the fictionalized account of the true events which happened to 16 year old Sylvia Likens in 1965. This book is not for the faint of heart, and it is made all the more horrifying knowing that it is based on true events. If you need content warnings, the chances are good that this book includes some if not all of them. Read with caution. I had to pause my reading at several points to just step away from the hurt and pain being inflicted upon Meg, the fictional Sylvia, in this book. Ketchum’s choice to tell this story from the perspective of a neighbor boy who initially befriends Meg and later is witness to most of her abuse and torture without actively participating is a smart choice as it allows the reader to see the evil being done without being in the minds of one of the abusers. Without that bit of distance, this book would not have been readable for me. The first half of the book moves along relatively slowly as you get to know and like the characters which makes the second half all the more disturbing. The book definitely caused me to question the humanity of people, our willingness to go along with things, the level of depravity to which we can sink, and the circumstances under which we will or won’t speak up in the presence of evil.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture

Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Death of parent