Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

19 reviews

alixlowe's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I read enjoyed this book, but feel it definitely could have been cut down. 24 hours?? I also was a bit surprised by the pro Christian messaging very apparent in the end, as I thought the beginning half really pointed out some of the dangers with much of the Christian messaging in modern churches.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

kingsteph's review

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Car accident

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and War

lraronson's review

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

keen's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

audalia's review

dark hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Death, Incest, and Pedophilia

directorpurry's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

linneak's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Pregnancy

kconley15's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Kidnapping

reclusivebookslug's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.25

I'm so conflicted about this one. This is so far removed from what I would normally read, but I love TPOBAW so I simply had to. The beginning was really the highlight for me. That was the height of the mystery and horror elements. The unknown possibilities were more interesting than how it was actually written. I'm glad I read it and maybe I'll even read it again sometime to give it another chance, but right now I have very mixed feelings.

On one hand, this book has an incredible ability to suck you in and keep you reading. Given the length of the book, I thought it might be more slow-paced or take its time on the exposition, but I was pleasantly surprised at how instantly gripping it was. It was very emotionally engaging and affected how I felt even when I was not actively reading it. At turns, it is scary, disturbing, sad, funny, and endearing. I was interested in the themes of generational trauma, cycles of abuse, and society's complicity in the evil of a few that allows suffering to spread.

On the other hand, I didn't enjoy the religious overtones of the latter part of the book and the reveal was something of a disappointment. It was grand in scale but not in emotional resonance for me. Sometimes plots of such cosmically huge proportions lose their impactfulness for me because they feel less personal. The very ending, in particular, I don't like.

The depictions of mental illness aren't the best. This is in line with part of a larger issue with the horror genre using mental illness as a plot device. There's also a very positive and uncritical depiction of a sheriff, which seems out of touch with the reality of the role of law enforcement.

Maybe it would have benefited from some subtlety. Metaphorical gods and devils are often interesting to me, but a war between the literal biblical God and the devil is sort of boring to me. Maybe if I believed in God or the afterlife this would have meant something to me, but as is it just doesn't and I almost feel it takes away from the theming that I do enjoy.

The subplot of Mary Katherine's virgin pregnancy is annoying. The book ending with the implication that the baby will grow up to be the next pawn in the nice man's plan to escape Hell is such a disappointment. Despite the huge scale of the conflict, the resolution doesn't seem to reach that level of importance. Sure they escaped disaster, but it is only a temporary solution to a problem with no end in sight. I didn't expect them to kill the devil and rid the world of all evil or anything, but they didn't do anything to stop or change the cycle, they just created a slightly happier ending to this one circuit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Mental health-related triggers are the biggest ones. They use a lot of common horror tropes like: not being able to trust your own thoughts; paranoia, hallucinations, and delusions being real; being constantly watched; the world ending; everyone but you and those close to you being crazy or out to get you; etc. which were upsetting to me, and I don't even have particular mental health reasons that make them triggering to me.

buecher_und_huehner's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail