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elisalasater's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Abandonment
Moderate: Incest, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Car accident
homebodynate's review against another edition
- 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
I feel like this book brings up a lot of heavy topics and interesting ideas - religious trauma, toxic parents, abuse, misogyny etc - only to fumble them so badly. Like Cathy has her entire life uprooted, experiences her mother slowly turning negligent and abusive, finds out about this generational trauma that effects every woman in her family, loses her younger brother and all this other stuff; but the book is so caught up in old school misogyny that it can't really conceptualise an ending for her that isn't still wrapped up in patriarchy and these conservative ideas of how men and women in relationships ought to behave. Like she enters into and then escapes this horrible abusive family but her "happy ending" is just her ending up with another horrible abusive man anyways 😐 and the abuse is like immediately forgiven and excused by the narrative I can't with this.
Also all the incest shit was fuckin weird.
Graphic: Animal death, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment
Moderate: Child death, Self harm, and Death of parent
Minor: Car accident
meanotherself's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.0
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
wowsmeows'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: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, and Car accident
greysun69's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
3.5⭐️ This book is a classic and for that reason there are certain things that didn’t age well such as the term “tar baby”, “retarded”, and the word “ugly” being used to describe a person with a incest-caused birth defect. Although the preteens didn’t speak like preteens, I suspended my disbelief just to read this book. Honestly, this shit was sad as fuck. I was sad for the manipulation of the brother that was supposed to be the smart one. The twins and Cathy all saw that the mom was a liar and couldn’t be trusted but Chris always wanted to believe in her. If by some miracle you weren’t marred by this book or movie, look up the trigger warnings because I may have missed some. The mother pissed me off more than The Grandmother did. The book described that a loving mother was changed by greed but she was simply a narcissist playing the role of a loving mother. The grandmother was simply a bxtch. Those little fxckers didn’t have to kill that mouse! I didn’t like the end but that’s because of cliffhangers.
The book was well-written and I’m willing to read the next book. The movie and the book were similar, but there were key moments in the book that were changed in the movie.
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
mad_dog_reads's review against another edition
- 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? No
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death, Torture, and Murder
Minor: Pregnancy
sofipitch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The biggest flaw is that it's not well written, it reads like someone's first attempt at writing/first novel, it is clunky and just a bit meh. I wanted more given the gothic genre. Cathy is also reading a book once and says she likes to pause over pretty phrases, same, but I only did that once or twice. It also has pacing issues.
But I can see the appeal as a gothic fiction lover and think if kids/teens want to read this one they should be able to. It picks up near the end and becomes more thriller like
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Incest, and Death of parent
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts
thehaylflayl'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
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Vomit
coco78337's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
chuckyinspace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Minor: Murder