Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

16 reviews

mlewis's review against another edition

I want to come back to this later to write it up more completely, but the short answer is that I grew impatient with the narrators

being clearly a single entity with disassociative identity disorder</>, despite their richness overall. I felt less propelled as the story progressed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Self harm, and Vomit

Minor: Fatphobia and Classism

libraryofdoe's review

challenging dark emotional informative slow-paced

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

5.0

How to talk about this book without spoilers? What I can say is it’s absolutely fantastic, harrowing and packs a heavy punch.

The premise is that a woman moves to a street where the man who she believes abducted her younger sister 11 years ago lives. The novel is both about that and absolutely not about that (I know, frustrating when you’re trying to decide whether to read it). I definitely advise reading the trigger warnings and going in somewhat prepared. If you like mental health rep, unreliable narrators and horror that makes you think, this is for you.

I need to reread this ASAP, knowing what was going on, so that I can pick out the inner and outer world parts. I will also be looking for reviews from people with DID to see how well the novel portrays it, as while I have a trauma-based dissociative disorder and have engaged previously with a lot of the content listed in the bibliography, I don’t have any form of DID and I therefore can’t speak on the representation. To me, it was fantastic and so, so sad. Amazing to see a novel use characters with these disorders and not have them be a villain. I feel this book really encourages the reader to question their worldview and view on mental health, and the afterword has me sobbing even now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia

misty_muskrat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

<SPOILER>
<
<
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A mystery/horror where the D.I.D. system is the victim/survivor and is not only completely innocent, but  gains a hopeful ending and a supportive friend.
<SPOILER>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcoholism and Abandonment

moraofthestory's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Bullying and Blood

elliotvanz's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

1.5

Imagine taking Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, or Faulkner's Sound and the Fury, and sticking them in a blender with Stephen King and Gillian Flynn. This book takes the unreliable narrator to new heights and distorts reality into a pretzel. The pacing flies along, and feels akin to chasing someone through very dark woods with a dim flashlight, the plot revealed in snatches of perfect clarity in between long heart-stopping moments of blindness. A character study, as well as a suspense novel, Ward uses language to tease her readers along the path all the way to the twisty conclusion. If you're a fan of thrillers this one will not disappoint.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Blood, and Murder

sorcha_rosa's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

I found this impossible to rate because of it's subject matter. I understood what she was trying to do with this story, but I'm not sure this was the best way to do it? I would be interested in what own-voices reviewers would have to say about this one.

I think this needs to be written by someone with DID, or an own-voices perspective. I understand that she was trying to use our own biases against us and show us that this main character was actually not a murderer but in fact the victim. However, I'm not sure that that was the best way to show us a character with DID. It came across as someone being like, 'oh yeah, they're not a psychopathic murderer, they just have DID.' which might not be the best representation, even if they have this redeemable arch at the end? I don't know, I need to hear someone own-voices reviewers as I said. As someone who is neurodiveregent though, I wouldn't want this type of story written about me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Stalking, and Death of parent