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noisivweneht's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I felt bad for Rob for basically the whole book and then I had to keep sitting there wondering if I should. The pov switch makes it feel like either one of them could be an unreliable narrator.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, and Suicide attempt
rgtala's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Child abuse
Minor: Child death
gs_wells's review against another edition
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, and Child abuse
kdrupp's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
justacowboy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Infertility, Sexual content, and Blood
lilias's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I almost quit The Last House on Needless Street, except I never stop reading a book for the very reason that I’m glad I continued. I hated the first third or so. I read it thinking it was being weird just for the sake of being weird, it was irritatingly oddball. Then towards the middle I settled in to it, still thinking “wtf,” but in a more subdued voice. By the end of the book I thought it was so good. So I approached Sundial with this experience in mind. I had a similar experience with Sundial as I did with The Last House on Needless Street, I had this bubble of “wtf” over my head for a lot of it, but since I had learned to trust Ward, my overall experience was more enjoyable throughout.
It is a story about mothers and daughters, and, being a relatively new mother to a daughter, those stories hit me in a certain way. I was interested the whole time, and I’ve never read a book like this.
But a few things take off a star for me: first, I hate reading about animal abuse, and there is a lot of it throughout this book. In her afterward, Ward explains her reasoning for including it, but I still could have gotten the message if it had not been so graphic and so central. I suspect this is the same part of me that doesn’t like gore in movies but loves eerie suspense.
The second part that really irked me were the Arrowood parts. They stuck out to me as totally unnecessary, though I could have missed a very good reason to include them. But until someone gives me a good reason as to why they were included, I think they took away from the flow of the book, and a smoother narration would have made this book so much better.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Gore
santorini's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty
sykamor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The story the main character writes is also a little cringey and I didn't enjoy those parts.
Not my favorite but, it was interesting enough to finish.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Torture, Vomit, Death of parent, and Alcohol
dysfunctile's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
spadefootfrog's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Violence
Moderate: Medical trauma