Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Hide by Kiersten White

17 reviews

sleepyshelves's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I went into this unbelievably excited. Like read-the-synopsis-turned-to-my-mom-and-cackled excited. About 60% of the way through I was feeling let down because it wasn't what I had anticipated it to be. Now that I've finished, I'm glad I pushed through that 60-75% mark.
I never thought when I was younger that my favorite part of the book would be the author's note or acknowledgements at the end, but Kiersten White's finak thoughts really made this whole book for me. There were so many choices that I couldn't quite understand, and reading her parting words, everything just...clicked.
This is a great book. It is a wonderful experience, and it draws so beautifully from its inspiration - though that's dark, bizarre, and even unexpectedly classical. I really feel as though the book suffered from its marketing and copy. The book design itself is gorgeous (shout out to books that tell you about the typeface used, you're the real ones!), BUT the jacket copy lends itself to a different narrative. One that sets readers up for a bit of a strange ride.
White's voice in this book is just so cinematic. I found myself reading passages aloud to my gf because they were just so cleverly rendered.
Ultimately, mixed feelings about it but generally very positive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Abandonment, and War

hauntedantiqueshop's review

mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

This book really had me in the first half, can’t even lie. Once it became clear that it was just a different take on The Cabin in the Woods (and after they killed off the sweet baby), it lost the majority of my interest. It just started falling flat for me. Not to mention that it reads like a YA novel, really not for me. I don’t like when horror adds love story subplots and this one happened so fast. It also didn’t make sense in the context of the story so it really didn’t work for me. Overall though, I did enjoy a lot of what was going on.

I’ll die mad about Brandon. He was so genuinely sweet and kind. AND FOR NOTHING????? NOTHING!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Homophobia, Racism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Body horror, Child death, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Stalking, Death of parent, Outing, and War

Homelessness, PTSD, minimal war flashbacks (more like survival flashbacks I guess?), cult

traa's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Infidelity, Racial slurs, Self harm, Medical content, Medical trauma, and War

irmitcrab's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Self harm

novaleestar's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

janachigo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, War, and Classism

sleepylit's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

axel_p's review

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

2.0

I Hated all the characters, they didn't have any personality except for the stereotypes.
None of the characters had any chemistry with eachother.
The ending sucked.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

victor_constantine's review

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely consumed this book. It took me roughly twelve hours to read it, and I did that in the span of two days. This has quickly become one of my absolute favorite books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Homophobia and Racism

crowray's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

first book i’ve finished in one sitting in years, meant to only read one chapter before bed and got completely hooked. was enjoyable and tense and didn’t give too much away too soon. only thing was some character interactions could have had a lot more emotion behind them especially with the situations they’re in. overall amazing :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia and Racism

Minor: Mental illness, Self harm, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, and Abandonment