Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

32 reviews

hxppyhxt's review against another edition

slow-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

2.0

2 Stars instead of 1 because I really enjoyed the first half or so of the book.

Far too long of a book. I really enjoyed the first half or so of the book, then I got to the point where I was like there is still half of this book to read and everything in the summary has been done. And the random capitalization in words was so annoying, I thought they would spell something (especially when the author set this up to be the case with 

Spoilerthe journal) but spelling them out in many places was just fruitless. Very frustrating. I decided to DNF after an entire chapter of the uppercase nonsense where I spent so long trying to decode it only to get something along the lines of "HIMEEEEEEEIEEE". So many "hE". I thought that maybe it was intentional to just refer to a specific character in this way, but then even within the chapter it was not consistently "hE", sometimes it would just be a normal "he", which blew that theory out of the water. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to figure it out but honestly it got to the point where I didn't even care enough to figure it out.

Some of the twists were well set up so that you could figure them out or at least get a sense that something was amiss. Others felt completely random and felt like they had virtually no setup or foreshadowing.

SpoilerI don't mind some religious undertones, but in this case it really felt like two different books. The first half really had very little indication that the plot was headed towards a Christian allegory, and then in the second half it just felt like "and guess what, this is Satan. Oh and this? Yea she's actually the Virgin Mary. Oh yea, this is God. This is the Tree of Good and Evil. This is Eve, you know from the garden of Eden? And this is literal Hell" and on and on. I feel like setting it up more at the beginning would have made it feel less random.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Blood, Torture, Pregnancy, Suicide, Body horror, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

paronomaniac's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, and Torture

Moderate: Gun violence, Pedophilia, Violence, Suicide, Dementia, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism and Car accident

amberjackonski's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault

theimposter's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Murder, Sexual violence, Confinement, Physical abuse, War, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicide, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, Body horror, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual assault, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, and Medical trauma

Minor: Dementia, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Cursing, Drug abuse, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Chronic illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

bibrarian_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

If you ever wanted to read NOS4A2 by Joe Hill but weirdly religious, this is the book for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Sexual assault, Death of parent, War, and Suicide

directorpurry's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective slow-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? Yes

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Child death, Violence, Bullying, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Confinement, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

metalcutesolid's review against another edition

dark inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

dez02's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I will start off by saying that anyone who is sensitive to triggers, or is easily upset/disturbed should not read this book. 

This book primarily focuses on children and the mess of their families. It is detailed and intense. The author describes many horrible things that happen to these children. I would say it is not for the faint of heart. 

I found myself having to take a break multiple times. Having to sit back and just take in what I read. 

That being said, the book was beautifully written. It's in 3rd person (I believe, correct me if I'm wrong), so we get the opinions of every character that we can. We see what goes on in their heads and how they get manipulated by "The Nice Man". 

It shows just how fragile humanity can be, and how with the flip of a switch, everything could come crumbling down. Just a little whisper in someone's ear to send them down the wrong path could be the catalyst to ruining their lives. 

Although the topics of the book are dark I did enjoy reading it. I recommen it with caution. Think about your own mental health and decide if you are in a steady place to delve into something dark. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Mental illness, Suicide, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Blood, and Car accident

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Rape, and Pregnancy

coolbeans995's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

The first half of this book hooked me. The author (who is a good writer) is obviously channeling Stephen King, but where the book falls short in my opinion is the second half. There are too many climaxes. When you think things can't get worse for the characters they do, and when you think there isn't anything else that can go wrong it does, and the last 300 pages are just too much of that. There isn't enough of a satisfying ending to make up for it either.

It had my attention in the first half enough where I wanted to read what happens but the second half was too much. Should have wrapped it up in 100 pages I stead of 300.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gun violence, Sexual assault, and Violence

elisammansur's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

tbh my rating is going more off the vibes i felt throughout the book rather than an objective review. i did enjoy it a lot, the way it’s written hooked me from the start and kept me engaged with the story through the seven hundred pages. i am not religious so, sometimes, the analogies, metaphors, and overall catholic imagery was hard to understand. overall, it’s a better book and more worthwhile than It (Stephen King), with better vibes and a better ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Domestic abuse, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Suicide, and Gun violence