Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

55 reviews

geekberry's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcohol

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

helenferg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

cassielaj's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This book is a WILD ride

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Sexual assault, Medical content, and Alcohol

kjm_x's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

graciffer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, and Rape

sarahcherie's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

In the minority that seem to not really mesh well with this book. I found the different hosts difficult to distinguish between, and the only real defining features of the characters were reflective about how the MC felt about their bodies while inhabiting them. The plot twists were good, and were well explained, but the writing style fell flat for me, so that I wasn't invested enough to really care who killed Evelyn, though I did come close to figuring out the big reveal in the end anyway. I often found myself skimming the paragraphs without really obtaining any information, so I had to go back and reread passages to even know a plot twist had been introduced. 2/5 stars for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder

dustghosts's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

+ Beautiful turns of phrase, figurative language, the kind of writing that makes me want to also sit down and write
+ Satisfyingly cyclical, repetitive but full of just the right twists and turns that you want to keep reading to figure out what the exact same scene and setup looks like through a different set of eyes
+ Super exciting exploration and expansion of how to use POV to invoke emotion, tell a thrilling story, and string everything together
+ A very charming cast of absolutely unbearable little bastards; feels like you gain an evolving and empathetic understanding of each character with each new day

+ Despite the author’s sort of muddled/overly neutral comments in his own commentary, I find the book to be a pretty compelling allegory for and argument against the carceral state. The text itself feels distinctly poised against both the current prison system and the future potential for “mental imprisonment”.

- Some really egregious fatphobia that feels uncomfortable and gross to read, especially for a contemporary book. Not really skippable, either— while this character has other values to the narrative, fatness is treated as a debilitating moral failing reflective of character.
- So extremely British—
- Near the end, starts to feel as though things are being wrapped up too quickly, not quite as immersive as the rest of the book.

For example, I think we’re supposed to interpret Annabelle before Blackheath as as heinous as Daniel, whose villainy we’ve watched develop and worsen throughout the week. But whoever she was before feels too simply and vaguely summarized in comparison to the blunt relaying of Daniels crimes throughout the rest of the book. I wish we could spend a little more time remembering WITH Aiden, though I suppose the pacing might suffer for that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Vomit, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

maddox22's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Blood, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

davidrb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

I waffed on what to give this, but I decided that despite my reservations, this thing slaps beyond belief. It completely shifted my perspective on what a good mystery can be, and what a good book can be in general. It was engaging, and I have a feeling I'll get even more out of rereads, but it also has a solid heart: more than I thought it would. Do yourself a favor and pick this up! It's fun.

Points deducted for being kinda slow to start (took me a few tries before I got into it) and a weird, prolonged section of fatphobia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

plumquin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Self harm, Grief, and Sexual harassment