Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

In the Garden of Spite by Camilla Bruce

4 reviews

baearles's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infertility, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

asclafani's review against another edition

dark sad 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

4.5

A slow paced book a sped through! Bruce slightly “humanized” (in the sense that I wanted to know WHY) a serial killer, extremely impressive! I think Nellie as a sister/character does a great job of paralleling the emotional side of what loving a horrid person can be like. Having her perspective changes made the book more raw for me, I think it made the book a more well-rounded story instead of just pure tragedy and anger on the side of Belle. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Death

Moderate: Child death

anger566's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Reading about her killing all those people: 😯
Me after learning that it was based on a true story: 😧
The beginning was definitely slow but man oh man what an ending! I have absolutely no idea how she got away with killing so many people. I'm still in shock writing this 😳

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent

It's about a serial killer so lots of descriptions of the murders, blood, death, etc.

At the beginning of the book Belle has a miscarriage after being beaten by the father (he didn't want to marry her after learning she was pregnant). Belle has sex with men throughout the book which is described. Belle's children die at the end of the book due to them eating poisoned oranges. It's mentioned that Belle and Nellie's parents died.

smblanc1793's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Serial killer fanfiction—a fun concept, but while well researched, this story adds so much fiction to the mix that I wonder if it wouldn’t have been better to just make it into its own story. The quasi-biographical element of this book is part of what drew me to it, and I was a little disappointed with how much was just made up.

The story itself, though, is well thought out.  Belle as a character is surprisingly complex and well written—impressive considering how hard it is to make a murderous sociopath come across as any kind of sympathetic. 

Nellie as a character, on the other hand, felt like a crutch to me—a safety net in case people found it difficult to relate to our pernicious protagonist. But if you’re going to write about a serial killer, I say go all in. (If you’re looking for gentle, benevolent characters to fall in love with, maybe don’t pick up books about serial killers). The sections narrated by Nellie are, in my opinion, what renders the pacing less than superb and the book much longer than it needs to be. Though still a well developed character providing a different perspective, she took away from the overall impact of the book for me. 

All in all though, a pretty good story for true (and untrue) crime fans. It’s always good to see strong, independent women recognized within the boys club that is serial murder. #feminism, amiright?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol