Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

5 reviews

yleavy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

A humorous send-up of boarding school dramas, written in the 1960’s but depicting the early 1900’s. Fizzled out a bit near the end. I wanted it to be weirder and gayer. Next time I’ll probably just read Shirley Jackson. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism and Classism

crowyhead's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Suicide

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Alcohol, and Colonisation

tacochelle's review

dark 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? Yes

4.0

3 girls and a teacher from an Australian private academy disappear after climbing up to the titular Hanging Rock during their school picnic.  No bodies are ever found, and the event haunts everyone remotely connected to it, some more tragically than others. There's a hint of something supernatural about the whole thing, but it's never confirmed. While the truth of the mystery was published decades later, I don't thinks it's needed. It'd less about the mystery and more about how their absence affects their world. A little slow, but really interesting, and weird enough to be right up my alley.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Rape, Blood, and Vomit

picnicatthehangingtree's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Beautifully written and atmospheric

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Rape, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

sarah984's review

dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

This book is a tale of the unsolved disappearance of a group of schoolgirls on a picnic trip and how that shock reverberates through their community and changes other characters’ lives forever.

The points of view are all well done in terms of having different voices and showing which aspects of what had happened mattered to them. I understand from the introduction that there were originally supernatural elements that were toned down for publication and I think that was a good call. 

Due to the setting and the publication date, there are a few things that seem pretty dated, including racially insensitive language and a weird obsession with bullying one of the children for being fat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, and Blood

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, and Murder