Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

11 reviews

moonbasket's review

emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

To be honest, I found the book mostly boring. I only finished it because the audiobook was pretty short and I wanted to see how the real world storyline resolved. It wasn't too much of a mystery and the novel portion of the story was more of a supporting character to the narrative between Leo and Hannah than a full story on it's own.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and it's nuanced and less nuanced analyses of how a story is affected by the author and vice versa. Some parts were feather-light and I felt accomplished for seeing them and noticing the themes. Other parts were extremely heavy-handed and felt a little silly to read. 

I think having the "real world" elements be restricted entirely to correspondence was a really smart move and really pulled the book together. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Medical content, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

One of the main characters describes and incident from their past where a younger sibling dies in an accident. Another describes a childhood incident where a beating from a parent has pedophilic overtones, but there is an intervention before anything beyond physical violence occurs.

librarymouse's review against another edition

funny mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

A book within a book within a book made for a wild and very engaging read. I finished it in a day.

the novel ending with Leo, whose storyline seemed to be constantly unfinished, waiting for Winifred and Marigold made the whole thing more meta. For Freddie to be seemingly stalked by the Leo that Leo the murderer praises Hannah the author for creating was such an interesting way to fold the layered universes in on themselves! Leo the murderer stalking the author who then wrote a Leo the character stalking Winifred the author character who was friends with Marigold, the stalker of Whit, who had done an unsettlingly large volume of research on Cain to try to exploit his mom's shoddy lawyering into a pullitzer makes for a very interesting web of morally gray people. I did want Leo the character's story to be tied up more. He's still characterized as helpful, which I think ads an interesting tilt to the story being told about Leo the murderer and Hannah the author and the impact of what he gave her on her writing. But I want to know more about the reasoning behind the cupcakes and the groceries. Is it flirting, stalking, or friendship? I wasn't expecting for Leo the murderer to be a racist, but using that racism and vitriol to show his descent into delusion was interesting, especially in how that morphed from what could be perceived as advice on US perceptions of race and how it impacts jnteracrjoms with the police.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, and Police brutality

crswit16's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore and Murder

originally_olivia's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.0

This mystery kept me guessing until the last moment! So many misleads, a really interesting format, and fantastic characters.

I was convinced it was Leo who was the killer. Sending Freddy those anonymous gifts, being at the library that day, running by Boos crime scene, so I was definitely disappointed by the outcome. I wanted the real Leo to know how the author really saw him and that she knew all along. But I guess that would’ve given him the attention he so desperately wanted.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

purplepenning's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.5

A murder mystery within a murder mystery, this is a solid thriller. The real killer was hiding in plain sight and was so painfully obvious that I didn’t even consider them as a candidate. The characters are mostly likeable and diverse. The plot is believable. The end was good but arrived to with little pomp or circumstance. There are some glaring spelling/grammar mistakes throughout that are a bit annoying but all in all a solid book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

madisonfrank's review

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

stampest's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Medical content

caseythereader's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape and Torture

Minor: Racism and Sexual content

liblibby's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I was completely enamored with this book! The structure was so fascinating and cool. It’s the story of a woman writing a story of a woman who is writing a book about the events that are currently unfolding around her. It sounds so complicated but the author does an amazing job at keeping things sorted and organized. 
Even though I saw the two main plot twists coming, they were laid out in an exciting and surprising way! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Gore