Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

150 reviews

yarrowlinden's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Abortion, Animal cruelty, and Cancer

kateormerod's review

dark funny fast-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? Yes

4.0

I liked it and also understand why people would not like it. For me it felt very nostalgic for the transition to womanhood and all the depression and countless other symptoms that came with it. I enjoyed the black comedy and satire. Fight Club for the girlies

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Confinement, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Terminal illness, Eating disorder, Addiction, Suicide, and Vomit

Minor: Abortion and Animal cruelty

This book has almost every single content warning

aleini's review

emotional reflective fast-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: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Vomit, Animal cruelty, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abortion

dontbelieveinez's review against another edition

dark reflective tense 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? Yes

4.0

what the FUCK

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, and Confinement

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Toxic friendship, Abortion, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

sorenzs's review

dark reflective 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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Mental illness, Vomit, Addiction, Animal death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Abortion, Infidelity, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Body shaming, and Pregnancy

astridrv's review

What a fever dream of a book. The concept worked, although I get reservations about the ending. The writing is enthralling, the narrator has a really strong voice and is clearly defined in all her layers and murkiness. It is a cold book (and do check the content warnings because it’s a lot), but also a little bit tender. It made me think, all along, may I never be or feel like that. But the narrator is aware of her world, of the game of rich and pretty she’s both winning and losing at. Finishing this book feels like walking out of a movie into daylight. I’m left engulfed, squinting, having spent a few hours in a life so distant from mine it can only have grown my empathy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Abandonment, Abortion, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Animal cruelty

taylorbrooke's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Grief, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Mental illness, Infidelity, Addiction, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Drug use

Moderate: Vomit, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, and Sexual assault

sweet_rain's review

funny reflective sad medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Toxic friendship, Grief, Death, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Body shaming, Mental illness, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Abortion, Vomit, Terminal illness, and Alcohol

marns20_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

Honestly? This is the most UNHINGED book I’ve ever read and probably will ever read??? but I loved it sooo much and I can’t even tell you why. Every 5 pages I literally said ‘Wtaf’ to myself out loud. It’s truly bizarre, in the best way. There were so many moments that you couldn’t help but laugh that had me thinking omg am I crazy too, I definitely shouldn’t be laughing at that. Her perplexing friendship with Reva was my favourite thing to read. The complex feeling of loving someone but not liking them, your friendship evolving past having nothing in common anymore because you have both grown separately yet you are still inextricably linked by history alone, not being able to let them go even though they’re no good for you and vice versa. 

The weird candid way she describes her parents and her relationship with them throws you off balance because she says really deep and personal things but in a detached, emotionless way that keeps you at arms length almost like when someone is crying but they don’t want you to hug or comfort them and you just stand there awkwardly staring at them. As unrelatable as the main character is (white, rich, privileged) her experience of the lethargy and apathy towards life was very relatable. Her crazy experiment is probably something we have all wished we could do at some point. I know I have. At parts, I found myself desperately rooting for her experiment to work, for her to be able to pull herself out of her despair and then other times you really couldn’t ignore what a truly terrible person she was, terrible friend she was. This struck a chord thinking about how mental health affects your relationships, your inability to show up or want to show up for people, it makes you irritable and mean, only willing to do the bare minimum despite how much you hate it or how much you love them. The complex nature of the human condition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Drug abuse

Moderate: Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Grief, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Suicide, Abortion, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness

lauchpferd's review

dark 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

1.5

!Spoilers!

I don't know why this book exists, this should've been a short story and even then the plot is extremely flimsy. It took me 6 months to finally finish because of how much it drags it's feet. Most of the characters are completely unlikable and don't change or develop at all over the course of the story.

The main character does a 180 in her personality once the author realises the book is almost over but there are no in-story justifications for it. Reva dying is cliché, of course the best friend has to die for the betterment of the main character. Using 9/11 and her subsequently buying a new DVR to record it as a metaphor just seems crass, as does the very last line: "There she is, a human being, diving into the unknown, and she is wide awake."

While the occasional sentence or image might be interesting, (the arctic fox freezing to death) it's immediately undermined by whatever comparison to genitals the author can come up with.

The book was recommended to me for being "deep" and "real" but I'd say it's the exact opposite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Pregnancy, Abortion, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Terminal illness, Vomit, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Grief