Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

13 reviews

altbinx's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, Death, Cursing, Racism, Animal death, and Toxic friendship

the_harlequin's review

challenging emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Violence, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, Racism, Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, Death, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, and Gun violence

Moderate: Grief, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Cursing, Bullying, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Stalking, Classism, and Confinement

edengrace's review against another edition

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

1.0

genuinely disliked this book so much. read it for class and didn’t even finish it properly. idc if it’s historical and shit… let’s read something current where they don’t have the n word on every single page. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual harassment, Ableism, and Toxic friendship

orchidlilly's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Read it for school as I'm sure most people did. It's alright; way shorter than I thought it would be. The writing is good, but it also comes across as a little bit whiney and pessimistic, and it ends up sounding like every other book written and set in that era of time. It's extremely hard to like any of the characters, which might be the point but it made it kind of a slog to read even though it's so short.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Sexism, Violence, Animal death, Ableism, Death, Misogyny, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Murder, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Classism, Infidelity, and Racism

Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Rape and Religious bigotry

fernhunter's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

3.0

It was one of the first books in a long time that made me truly uncomfortable and I really disliked all of the characters. The main ideas are so deeply hidden that I had to read analysis to understand what exactly this book was written for. I read it only because my literature professor used it as an example of "mice and men" model of society when we were discussing O. Wilde but her explanation of the book is definitely better than the work itself. It was super weird and shocking, I had to take pauses and read this small story for days.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Racial slurs, Murder, and Violence

mediocrem's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Cursing, Death, Animal death, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Racism

Minor: Sexual violence and Toxic friendship

the violence enacted on Curley's wife was incredibly disturbing and reminiscent of sexual violence. Although Lennie does not sexually harm Curley's wife in any way, the way he kills her is extremely vivid and just reminded me of it. The same can be said about the way Lennie treated that one woman in Weed-it wasn't intentional or meant to be sexual, but from an outsider's perspective it can look like sexual harassment. This is just something to be wary of when reading.

annapox's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

Very compellingly written. Also very ableist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Death, Murder, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cursing

_piercingwords_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

It is a well woven, full circle kind of story that can be finished in one session. 
Better to analyse thoroughly to get the most out of it though.

It is a bit repetitive, not much happens until the end, but somewhere near the end I was really rooting for the characters to make it and was left devastated by the ending. So very tragic.

The writing takes a bit to get used to and relies heavily on dialogue. The characters feel very real, thus are complicated though and not immediately likeable. This author has studied people and the way they speak.

Reminded me of the play Death of a Salesman when it comes to the themes of it.

It is objectively a well written story, but it left me with a feeling of dread, very dark story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Slavery, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Misogyny

grayscale08's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Minor: Abandonment and Alcohol

This book, I think, approaches racism and sexism from a critical point of view. The sole Black character tries explaining racism to the white characters and we see the unfair treatment of him by Curley and his wife. The only woman who plays a role in the story is named “Curley’s wife,” but we see throughout the story that she has her own identity. Steinbeck definitely wasn’t as conscious of racial and gender biases as I would hope, but he approaches discrimination in a way that highlights the hypocrisies of it.

book_bear's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Wonderful book, but very sad! Definitely not a happy book! :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, and Death

Minor: Alcohol and Toxic friendship