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jenlengland's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death
araceliream's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Rape
anxious_jay's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child abuse and Abortion
mariaramses's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Gore, and Sexual assault
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
whiskeywoman79's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
⭐⭐⭐/5
TW: SA (graphic once, but mentioned in different ways throughout)
I am not sure what to say about this story. It was creepy. It had its good parts and its bad parts? I was left confused and underwhelmed? I am rather unsure how I feel about it as a whole.
I feel like the author kept trying to justify inappropriate adult-child relationships. Like the one that was forced was bad, but because the young girl liked the teacher back that one wasn't bad, TF?!! Both shouldn't have happened, and neither should be condoned.
Can we also acknowledge that he was sexually assaulted!! They kept glazing over that Other than when he asked about the accusation made at the church "What he did to you - some people would give that same name."
I have no idea how it won the awards it did.
Will like this if you like Stephen King? For me it is like SCI Fi movies it's the B-rated version of Stand By Me.
I grew up in a small US town in the 1980s, yet I felt so disconnected from the flashbacks, maybe it is a UK v US thing? I never believed they were 80's kids.
I had such high hopes for this read because The Burning Girls is one of my 5-star reads for this year, after DNFing The Drift, and now my experience with this I am starting to think it was a one-off.
I am using this for a challenge I am just not sure which one yet.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Chronic illness, Cursing, Gore, Dementia, Abortion, and Death of parent
Minor: Car accident
vbfields's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This fell very flat for me. It is more of a murder mystery than true horror, which would be fine but I felt the blurb and the whole first half of the book was setting this up to be something so creepy and maybe a little supernatural but that was not the case at all. The characters were all very one dimensional, including the narrator, Eddie. I could not stand that everyone kept lying about everything! Nobody was reliable to the reader and I felt there was a lot of fluff thrown in just to throw us off the true answer that did not even matter in the end. The ending was not surprising and it was actually a little frustrating. I suspected from the beginning about what happened in the final scene with Eddie, but why? And prior to Mickey coming to see him it seemed like this was something Eddie never even thought about in 30 years. His descriptions of women and especially /girls/ were also just disgusting. Every time one came up (and there was a lot) it made me uncomfortable. The actual character of the chalk man was also just completely wasted. Should have just called him straw man.
Graphic: Child abuse and Pedophilia
nrogers_1030's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
3.25
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cursing, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Suicide, Car accident, Abortion, and Pregnancy
maryshelleysbestie's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Abortion
chloebear21's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Child abuse
schneehutte's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Eu preciso admitir que terror e suspense é exatamente a minha praia e o meu tipo de gênero favorito - e portanto, já ganha certa vantagem quando eu o comparo com outros livros. Talvez seja uma vantagem desleal, mas o que posso fazer? É o meu ponto fraco.
"O Homem de Giz" foi recomendado por uma amiga minha (recomendado talvez seja uma palavra forte, já que ela não gosta de terror) e eu imediatamente coloquei na minha lista quando ela mencionou ser terror psicológico. O enredo em si é extremamente similar à Stephen King - eu diria que quase beira um plágio, com vários subplots iguais à IT, até mesmo personagens com nomes e personalidades idênticas - apesar da escrita ser bem mais simples. A escrita simples, porém, não torna a história menos interessante ou assustadora: a autora consegue muito bem criar uma atmosfera de terror com poucas palavras.
O fato dos personagens não serem muito cativantes e muitas vezes com atitude questionável (incluindo o protagonista) aqui é facilmente perdoado: afinal, estamos falando de terror. Todos tem um segredo, o que contribui para a construção de um enredo todo conectado, como teias de aranha. No geral, a história sendo escrita em forma de flashbacks e flash-fowards também foi de meu agrado, ajudando os leitores a observar o impacto dos eventos do passado nos personagens nos dias de hoje, além de tornar o enredo mais dinâmico. Eu admito que fiquei assustada e tensa em várias partes da história, o que para mim mostra que a autora conseguiu o que queria.
Eu não consigo me estender muito aqui sem dar spoilers, mas acho justo mencionar algumas ressalvas. Até 80% do livro, eu estava quase certa de que iria dar cinco estrelas pra ele: eu estava entretida, e com exceção de achar a escrita talvez rápida demais, eu estava disposta a ignorar isso em prol da tensão que a autora conseguiu construir com tanta maestria. Porém... o final é bem decepcionante. Talvez porque minhas expectativas não foram concretizadas, ou talvez por tudo ter sido o produto de várias coincidências convenientes (o que eu não gosto).
A pedofilia é um tópico recorrente no livro, e nem sempre mencionada de maneira negativa. Eu não sou contra colocar tópicos pesados e discuti-los em livros (principalmente de terror, onde nossa zona de conforto é colocada em prova), mas do jeito que esse tema foi tratado aqui, foi bem estranho.
No geral, foi esse final decepcionante que abaixou meia estrela da perfeição. Ainda mantive 4,5, porém: em nome dos primeiros 80%. Me prendeu. Cumpriu sua função, além de me motivar a ler mais: o que nos dias de hoje, não está fácil. Com certeza irei tentar outros livros da Tudor: pelo que eu entendi, outras pessoas acharam a suas outras publicações mais interessantes.
Mais uma observação (mas isso não tem nada a ver com o livro em si, e não afeta minha review): fiquei também um pouco decepcionada com a tradução.
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Abortion, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death