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bokslukaren's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault
thesuperawesomesarah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Medical content, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury
hedsek'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
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Car accident
nerdkitten's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Minor: Ableism, Fatphobia, Genocide, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Vomit, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War
blueshirt's review against another edition
- 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
- Johnny Truant's sections are so self-indulgent/-congratulatory. I have no patience for some misogynistic twerp's #sodeep musings.
- I'm never actually convinced that Navidson is a good guy. He just makes one stupid, selfish choice after another. I'm glad Karen cheated on him and I think she should do it again.
- Karen's character is defined solely by her beauty (or lack thereof, at the end) and how much she Needs A Man. Gross.
- The children are not real characters, they are given no depth or development.
- Reston has no purpose beyond talking about how cool Navidson is.
- Tom is great, no notes.
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Pedophilia
rmbrndt'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
3.5
Personally I don't think the formatting does anything for this book - the footnotes work well but shifting the text around is unnecessary.
So misogynistic at parts it made me infuriatingly angry which easily secured that I will never read another MZD book ever again.
Graphic: Sexual content and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Murder
venusmage'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? Yes
5.0
Less “overt” horror and more conceptual, based on metaphors. If reality-breaking narratives wig you out then maybe skip it, otherwise I’d highly recommend. I hate to say it’s an “you get it, or you don’t” sort of book, but I believe that is indeed the case. It’s a modern classic for a reason.
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content, and Suicide
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, and Death of parent
lookleft's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
avacadosocks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol
Moderate: Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Cancer, Incest, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, and Vomit
thestorydoer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This book is scary, yeah, but only occasionally. it's filled with long ramblings that almost felt like a train of thought. Unfortunately, I couldn't focus on the book so often, I missed a lot of the plot elements. Yet I stuck it out because the scary elements in this book are incredibly clever. Most of the other scary factors will be found not in the ramblings itself, but the afterthought and questioning of those ramblings. That being said, I think I should've read something else.
It took me so long because I struggle reading books which break flow. This constantly asks the reader to jump around the book. This is what I tried on my first attempt but the book made no sense. therefore, it is best read as a linear story on a first read, and a non-linear story on a second. although, I did skip a lot of the appendix mentions because I just couldn't be bothered.
I can imagine this being very good for some people as it can be genuinely terrifying. However, if you are at all in my demographic (ADHD, doesn't ponder on stories and details afterward, prefers an ebb and flow in your books), you may not like this. Spend your $75 on 3 $25 books by your local Dymocks instead.
Overall, 3/5. Genuinely scary at times but I personally struggled reading 70% of it. You probably won't like it if you're anything like me.
Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Murder
Moderate: Pedophilia