Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

41 reviews

rorikae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

'The Library at Mount Char' by Scott Hawkins is a fascinating fantasy novel with horror elements. 
Carolyn is a Librarian at the Library. She and each of her siblings have their own catalogue, or area of interest, that they study as their Father prepares them for their role in life. To move further forward on their paths, they have to head out and interact with Americans to tackle the challenges coming their way. Steve, who is trying to lead a normal life, is pulled into Carolyn (and the Library's) schemes and it will change the course of his life. 
This is such a hard book to describe. It's weird and incredibly unique. There are a number of horrific elements, especially surrounding how different characters treat one another. It's fantasy but it is also very squarely set in a version of the United States that resembles our own. I do think it is best to go into this novel knowing next to nothing as the story unfolds. Everything wrapped up really well at the end, which helped to boost how I felt about it because during the reading process it seemed to drag at points. For a section of the story, I really didn't care about Steve or understand why we were spending so much time with him. This is revealed later and made sense but it didn't stop the middle section of the novel from dragging out what felt like could have been a much quicker process. And yet, I do think it all works together. I think this is a great book for a book club because there is a lot to discuss. If Scott Hawkins writes another book in the future, I will definitely be interested in picking it up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Car accident and Death of parent

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Homophobia, Car accident, Outing, and Pandemic/Epidemic

maecave15's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

3.5

I don't know yet what to think of this strange and twisted story. Before I put down a review I need to collect my thoughts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Vomit, Death of parent, and Alcohol

vic_to_ria's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Ok 
This book took me a while to get into. Up until like 30% it was rough for me- I kept putting it down and walking away from it but after 45% definitely the plot picks up really quickly. It is a very darkly themed novel so people be warned- check the content warnings plz- but it still had light hearted moments that made you feel for the characters and why they became the way that the are.
(Can I just say that Micheal is my fav and he deserves the world.) 
The plot twist was something that we thought of more and more as we continue reading so it wasn’t a major shock but how we get there was the true mystery like damn it was fun to see it all unfold. 
Overall I really enjoyed it but I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

literary_liv's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and War

antimony's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

only complaint is that the pacing was kinda weird. like the first half was rapid fire everything happening all at once and then it slows down like crazy after

carolyn kills david and brings steve into the library

. i thought all the stuff with the Library was super interesting as well & i would have loved like a list at the front or something of what all the catalogs are..we know abt healing, war, languages, mathematics(?), animals, death/the forgotten lands, time, & like possible timelines (whatever rachel is doing), but like that's just 8!! there are 4 more!!

ok actually wait. 3 hrs out from finishing it i have some more thoughts. mainly . like i said before the other librarians were so interesting and totally underutilized (i mean we only get NAMES for like 7 or 8 of them!!!) and it felt so cheap that

they 100% really did all die (except michael) when the military showed up at mrs mcgillicutty's house. like seriously?? they're all part of the way to being gods but all it takes is a bunch of guns to kill them:/?

and kinda

none of steve's and carolyn's problems were really solved at all except for the ending of the famines and whatnot by her turning him into the sun. idk if a steve epilogue was possible but i would have liked that a lot better than the erwin one we got

and also the narrative sorta justifies all the torture that the father put carolyn and her siblings through at the end. as if there was no other way for

him to choose a successor and then retire??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Self harm, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Car accident

kaitlynannette13's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

• 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? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

helenleone's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Grief, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

syddevo's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A common review I've seen about this book is that you can't really describe it in a good enough way, you just have to read it. Now that I have finished the book, I understand this statement entirely. I would HIGHLY recommend reviewing content warnings if you have any strong stances on topics you do not wish to read about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Medical content, Grief, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Car accident and Abandonment

ahoyitsjoy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Such a good book. Very confusing, but everything comes together well in the end. I found the librarians, and especially Carolyn, so fascinating. The book almost never explicitly tells you what's going on with her, but there's so much between what's said and unsaid that makes her one of the most interesting characters I've ever read about. The writing is so good at effortlessly moving between brutal violence and horror, absurd humor, and brief moments of quiet contemplation of what it means to be human. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Genocide, Excrement, Vomit, Car accident, and War