Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda

16 reviews

lovesit1892's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

I give this two stars for the unique perspective and modern angle that this author uses to approach the vampire trope, but it did not do much for me. I love vampires and I was excited to read a more contemporary vampire storyline with Asian/POC characters, but nothing interesting seems to happen throughout this entire book. The ending is expected and even the character's expected upheaval is uneventful when it happens. The writing lacks any description that would make it lush and detailed, it's just blunt, short sentences, "I did this. This happened."   

The uniqueness of the storyline itself had promise, but the writing makes the characters and their happenings flat and uninteresting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Dementia

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual assault, Dementia, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

semeyers's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Terminal illness, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Murder

chichio's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

This book’s premise had crazy strong potential. All in all, I think using vampirism to explore the themes of disordered eating, self-hatred and disconnection from one’s father was genuinely very interesting but the character used to do this exploring was just FLAT. 

The character voice wasn’t strong or interesting enough to keep me really engaged throughout reading the book and that’s why it took me so long to finish it tbh. 

I did really enjoy how this is really just a coming of age story, with the supernatural elements just sprinkled in to enrich the common discussions being made surrounding how 20-something-year-olds navigate life and adulthood. I just wish our narrator had more life (no pun intended) infused into her so I could adore her and her story rather than feeling like I was labouring through it all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Self harm

lydiavsbooks's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Absolutely loved this one. Vampirism was such a brilliant analogy to explore themes of shame, self hatred and disordered eating in such a new and unique way. I love the concept and it was executed so well. 

Our character, Lydia was such a real vulnerable character to follow, and as a fellow artsy person who doesn't really paint much anymore, I loved the look into the art world, and it actually encouraged me to start on another painting.

I read this in two days, I found it so engaging and addictive. That said, if you're going into this hoping it'll be a dark vampire horror, you will be disappointed. It definitely reads more like contemporary/literary, with some horror elements. 

The only reason this isn't a 5 star for me is I don't think it quite made a personal lasting impact for me enough to be a 5 star.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

radtastical's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Blood, and Dementia

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

educatorgams's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Gore