Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

24 reviews

thebearnest's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent

Minor: Pregnancy and Injury/Injury detail

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a book my husband bought me when he went out of town. 

"Looking Glass Sound" follows a young man by the name of Wilder Harlow. Wilder is determined to write a novel that chronicles his time spent in a small  coastal town in Maine. One fateful summer, he met two people that forever changed his life, but while the trio was trying to navigate who they want to become, the town is haunted by a serial killer. 

This novel was so engaging and kept me guessing from the first page. 

Wilder was a complex character, and I loved reading from his point of view. He really struggles to fit in and make friends, even into adulthood. The novel ends up covering a large time frame because the first chapter is when Wilder is 17, and then the end of the book is when he is well into adulthood. I really enjoyed this because we got to experience more of Wilder and see him try to grow through these challenging experiences. It was so easy to empathize with Wilder because at every turn he seemed to find himself being taken advantage of or tricked by some character. 

This novel has a lot of twists and turns all throughout and most of them I could not anticipate. This author is very skilled at crafting a misleading novel. There were one or two things I knew the general direction they were going to head in, but I could not have guessed what transpired in actuality. The ending of this novel was such a trip, and I really enjoyed the journey of ending up there. There was one aspect of the ending that I did not love, but I think it was poetic in its own way. 

I really enjoyed this novel and I cannot wait to pick up more from this author in the future! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual content

marieeh's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

3.0

Very torn on how I feel about this book.  Some parts (everything from Wilder's memoir) was great.  Everything else was very meh and confusing though. 

Maybe I read the last 5 chapters or so too fast, but it just kept getting more and more convoluted and I felt like it didn't need all that.  Made it difficult to figure out what I had read so far that was real vs a book within the story.  

I felt very sad while reading.  It was heavy in spite of the chaotic ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Toxic friendship

noodletime's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

To be fair, I did absolutely fly through this book. The atmospheric work was great and I loved the whole

original narrative with the Dagger Man and everything.

After a certain point it got too convoluted. I did understand what the author was trying to do and the questions she raises through the structure (e.g. who gets to tell a story, what does truth in a story mean anyhow) are intriguing, but I thought it was just complex for complexities' sake and didn't make the book better or more deep. Sadly, because the first part was amazing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

purstiltski's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Abortion

hollispaige's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.75

Okayyy, I just finished this book and i’m here browsing other readers reviews because i THINK i followed everything but damn….how can i even be sure i know that i fully understood/followed it? 
i’m with a lot of the other reviewers of this one. The first plot line of wilder, harper and nat could’ve been a solid 4-5 ⭐️ read if it ended there. Hell, I even enjoyed the first narrative of Sky, (though his rude ass move made me angry AF). I almost even could’ve been okay with the Wilder returns to the cottage as a grumpy old man story & how that turned out (prob would’ve been closer to a solid 3 ⭐️ at that point.) 

Now the last 30 ish pages really made me second guess if i understood the who’s who of it all. Are Skye, Sky, Pearl & Harper the same person at some point? Was harper successful & they end up “trapped forever” or was that her wishful thinking? Idk like i said, the beginning of this book until the last few chapters could’ve been a solid 3.75 ⭐️ read. However, my rating on this book is a generous 2.75⭐️ (rounded up to 3⭐️). 
Would i recommend it? only to people who really would spend the time reading and attempting to understand/follow it. 

also those long ass chapters? i almost stopped before getting through the first 50 pg “chapter.”

also (last one i promise) was Sky always a female? (it doesn’t matter, but im just trying to figure out if that situation was from the book inside of the book inside of the book)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity and Sexual assault

shamelessbibliophile41's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

ellaleec's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicide

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

I could not tell you a lick of information on what I just read. I feel like I should have taken notes and come at this like a detective to understand anything. It just wound up being too overly intricate for me, more like a messy book version of Inception + a little witchcraft than what I think the author probably intended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Abortion, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

rachelunabridged's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Stalking

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Infidelity, and Sexual content