Reviews tagging 'Blood'

I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

91 reviews

trip2reverie's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Animal death and Blood

lunarliberty's review against another edition

dark sad 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

3.0

Mid at best, but definitely chilly. Listening to this book at 1am in a dark bedroom, is downright spooky. But Reid throws away the ending and leaves you empty. The ending is confusing and I did not understand until researching it. There is critic for the dialogue, it is not dynamic and feels more like characters exchanging monologues. This choice makes sense in the end, but it is difficult to get through. 
I read this book twice. Not for its merit, but because it is so forgettable, I did not realize until I updated my read list.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, and Blood

elisha002's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

elysests's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

So, so weird! Really interesting and atmospheric, but painfully slow at times. This book swerves from a tense and drawn own suspense novel to a devastatingly drawn out psychological horror ending. Even as a person who loves suspense/thrillers, and psychological storylines, I wish the author would have cinched together more of the (very cool) threads. Love the symbolism though, and the characters feel fresh. More specifics below the spoiler tag.

I really felt like the ending was unsatisfying— there are so many details I’m left confused by. I get that Jake was the janitor the whole time, and he was imagining what could have happened with a girl to care about him, but what was the man outside the window waving when she was a little girl? What about the scratches in the basement? What was the deal with the video in the janitor’s room, and the freaky notes? I feel like I barely understand what the caller signifies, and what their message means. This book is haunting, and definitely tense, but I wish the ending could have relieved some of the tension instead of just letting out the air. :/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gore, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit

shiyuplsloveme's review

dark mysterious slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Kidnapping

mediocrebest's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

gentle_garbage_baby's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.5

Pretty good read. A little confusing in parts but it all comes together in the end in a very poetic way.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Suicide, Blood, and Stalking

Minor: Mental illness

viniciusdx12's review

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, and Death of parent

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is an incredibly confusing but beautiful book. I went into this expecting it to be about suicide, then thought it was about the end of a relationship, and then it went full circle and back to suicide. The experience of reading this feels like watching Black Mirror, very trippy and gut wrenching. 

The writing is absolutely beautiful, and for a horror/thriller, it has some amazing lines that really hit me in my personal feels. This book covers the difficulty of relationships, family dynamics, mental health and stalking all in one tiny little novel, and i truly think it’s one of the best modern literary fiction books i’ve read; this will definitely be considered a classic in the future! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

jaylene's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

1.5

Ooooooookay..

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Blood

Minor: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, and Suicide