Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

5 reviews

idk_indigo's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

This was a nice read, one I've had on my shelf for quite some time and I'm very glad I finally got around to reading it. I loved the length of it , honestly, it was a nice read for me to spend time on and it was a good book to pick up and put down. I was invested in it, but not to the point where I couldn't put it down, which, honestly I appreciated. 

It did drag at times, and the story itself felt both drawn out and unresolved, especially with

the two girls, Clara and Flo, who we meet at the beginning of the book; I felt their story was especially unresolved

. I also felt there was a bit much going on with the movie within a movie, made from a book, all within a book. It got confusing and seemed just too meta at times which detracted from the story. I almost felt like I didn't care about any of the MC's from this timeline. 

Is it the best book I've ever read? No, but I'm glad I read it! I'd be interested to read more queer/sapphic horror!!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Biphobia, Drug use, Suicide, Stalking, and Abandonment

penofpossibilities's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Misogyny, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Fatphobia, Dementia, Abortion, and Death of parent

ksgoetz's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

lisa_m's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

This book was unlike anything I have read before. I was bored sometimes and sometimes I didn't know what exactly the author was trying to do but all in all I did really enjoy it. I think if you want to read this book you have to like the creepy vibes it has. It is not a horror of creepy book at all but it does have a few creepy aspects throughout the book. It is creepy but also just a lot of talking and descriptions of film production, meetings and just day to day activities.. 

I think the only way to enjoy this book is to just take the time and not expect anything to happen. It will take you on a ride through different times, perspectives, stories and deaths.

This book was definitely weird. In a good way but still quite strange..

And also suuuper queer! Like pretty much every important character was a queer woman. I enjoyed that but it got to a point where it was a bit ridiculous (but also it fitted into the story perfectly and made total sense)

My favourite thing about this book is the formatting. I love the different fonts and especially the footnotes! (I love to see footnotes in books)
Also the illustrations are amazing! The yellow jackets were so cool and gave the book that extra something.

The narration was interesting but I did really enjoy it. It felt like a weird friend writing down a story for you and also like some Jane Austen esc writing. 

My biggest problem was the length of the book. Especially in the middle it got quite boring and I wanted to quit a couple of times. Also the ending confused me. I mean it is a kind of open end and you can keep thinking about it which is cool..?
I don't think the book could have been shorter and still be the same. The whole feeling came from the whole mixture of it all. Still I get that this is definitely not for everyone.

There are also so many different perspectives. There are quite a lot of jumps between time and people. Also it's kind of about a movie about a book about a legend about a book.

I would say reading this is definitely an experience - and one you have to want. If you want to read a very sapphic book that is also a bit spooky and has some great illustrations: this is the book for you. Be warned though as it is very slow paced and it has a LOT of unanswered questions at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ginadapooh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol