Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Bluebeard's Castle by Anna Biller

14 reviews

s_armstrong's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

1.75

good god what was that

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

brettashleyyy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

1.5

….Manderfield? Really?
This did not work. At all. Should’ve stayed as a screenplay. It read like bad fanfiction and made my eyeballs hurt from how much I was rolling them. The FMC sucks.  The constant references to its source material was beating me over the head to a bloody pulp. The overexplaining/telling not showing of basic feminist concepts, overuse of blatantly bland similes, and the overuse of the word “lugubrious” reeks of amateur writing. I could tell Anna Biller wanted to capture the melodrama and camp of the giallo, Hitchcock, pulp fiction of the 60s/70s wrapped in this not-at-all feminist retelling of the classic fairytale. The thing is, trying to capture that essence on the page is not possible, and trying to make a pastiche of someone as iconic as Hitchcock was going to inevitably be a failure. Even Pitbull knew that. I’ve never tried to power through an audiobook so quickly in my life for the sheer joy of being done with this book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Murder, and Gaslighting

kiwisnyds's review against another edition

While I liked Biller's The Love Witch, this novel is not very well written or edited. While reading I felt as if Biller was attempting to use her amazing skill with visual media, but in novel form it fell flat and just made me feel like it badly needed another round of edits to pare it down. The simplistic and unbelievable dialogue, while in her movies lends to a sense of unease, just did not translate well to the written format. I wanted to love this novel. The presentation of it is stunning. But the disconnect between the main character's supposed knowledge of abuse and how she reacted to it in real life was just so unbelievable. The manipulation of the abuser wa so surface-level and obvious that it makes me wonder how the protagonist couldn't see through it. This novel could have been a great commentary on the insidiousness of abusers and how easy it is to become entrapped, which I feel the author was attempting, but it was done poorly enough that it seemed like a parody of those themes. The novel also didn't actually feel gothic or horror to me. You can describe an old mansion and nightgowns for 12 pages but doing so does not make the work actually gothic. Maybe I'm being harsh, but I just wanted to skim until the end, so instead I put it down. I hope someone else will love and appreciate it. All that said, if Biller decides to write another novel I still might check it out. It can be really hard to get a debut right, and like I said the pieces were there but just didn't quite make it to the final work.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Gaslighting

kerishma's review against another edition

I just couldn't finish this. I got about a fifth of the way through and just had to put it down. I'm sorry to say that the writing feels a bit amateurish—it's all telling and no showing. The prose feels straight out of online fanfiction, which is not in itself a bad thing (I was raised on FanFiction.net, Livejournal, and Quizilla!), but when Gavin's eyes are non-ironically described as "orbs" I had to put the book down and close my own orbs. It doesn't help that Judith, the protagonist, is both dull and irritating (it's entirely possible that she undergoes a dramatic character change in beyond what I read, but I don't know that I would count on that). It's clear that Biller loves the Gothic horror and pulp romance genres, but every cultural reference is so painstakingly spelled out to the readers that it feels like she didn't know how to weave in those references more organically. It didn't feel polished enough to be "serious" (for lack of a better term) fiction, nor was it sufficiently exaggerated or sensational enough to call it camp.

Still, I would love to see how Biller would adapt this to film. I think she's one of the few filmmakers today who really understands how to use visual aesthetics to tell a dimensional and engrossing story—in her films, style is a huge part of substance, which isn't easy to do successfully. Here's hoping!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual content

whitneyfoster's review against another edition

dark tense 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? It's complicated

2.75

I picked this up because I'm in a phase where I'm exploring gothic fiction and I was excited to come across this. The cover makes me think of the old romance bodice rippers. I’ve heard “erotic romance” to describe this but I’m not so sure. There’s definitely a lot of spice that I skimmed over, but sex wasn’t at the fore front even though they talked about it enough. 

Bluebeard's Castle is marketed as a "feminist retelling" of the French folk tale of Bluebeard. I honestly did not get the "feminist" part of the retelling. The protagonist seemed to be pretty obsessed with men even though she had a career and her own money. 

I understand that the writer was trying to realistically protray what its like to be in an abusive relationship, but the protagonist seemed quiet passive. She wasn't even trying to help herself. The book seemed to read like a teenage diary entry. I love him, no I hate him, no I love him! I have read a lot of stories that more effectively portray domestic violence.

Despite the cover, this novel takes place in the modern day, which I think the writer forgets at times. Other than random mentions of modern conveniences like Google, it seems like the author wants this to take place in another era. 

One thing I would change about this novel is to shorten the descriptions. There would be 2-3 pages just describing a room in the castle. I skimmed a good bunch of it. I did find myself caring about the characters enough to know what happens and I don't regret reading the book. I'd recommend this for anyone who loves gothic fiction/thrillers and/or dark romance.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Blood and Vomit

carleesue's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Murder

elizalk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

Anna Biller's style is so distinct, I didn't love it at first, but picturing it in my mind in the same style as her movie the love witch helped the book grow on me. desperately sad and accurate depiction of the justifications many women make to stay with (evil) men. the story felt like promising young women if it were written better, still left me a bit unsatisfied

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual harassment

marinalikeaboatyard's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

1.0

emerald fennell would direct the shit out of this 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Colonisation

kay_louise's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense

1.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

i_would_prefer_not_to's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

2.5

I can't tell if it's written badly as pastiche or if it's just badly written. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and Gaslighting