Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Good Rich People by Eliza Jane Brazier

8 reviews

cc_shelflove's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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

3.0

I love a quick, juicy thriller! Good Rich People includes two points of view, Lyla and Demi. Lyla's husband is soooooo bored. To combat his boredom he loves to play a game where he destroys the lives of unsuspecting affluent individuals. After all, the wealthy aren't paying attention to anyone but themselves. In this round of the game, Lyla becomes the cat and Demi is the mouse. I really liked reading the same events through each woman's eyes, although this made the timeline disorienting at times. While I couldn't put this book down, the ending was weak AF. There weren't very many twists, but overall I enjoyed reading about rich people I loved to hate.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gun violence, Animal death, Drug use, and Murder

t3hyan3s3's review

mysterious tense 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

3.5

This book kind of reminds me of the 2019 movie Parasite but with more ill intent. The characters are all pretentious and shallow but I feel because that’s the whole point of the plot, I don’t hate them as much. There were some plot holes that I felt were hinted at but never fully flushed out, so it just felt rushed. Looking back, I had some theories that I felt would have made it more “twisted” and “dark” like it’s advertised as. Overall I was definitely entertained but I still felt like things were missing that could have made it so much better.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Toxic relationship

shadowmaster13's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Blood, Murder, Gun violence, and Classism

Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism

moonpotter's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use and Mental illness

booksofautumn's review

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Murder, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Violence, Classism, and Death

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

Minor: Suicide

thereadingraccoon's review

dark tense 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

2.5

Book review: Good Rich People by Eliza Jane Brazier

Good Rich People is an adult suspense novel about a trio of the ultra wealthy and the games they play with other people’s lives for their own amusement. 

Good Rich People is told in alternating POV’s between wealthy Lyla (wife of Graham and daughter-in-law to Margo) and Demi (their new tenant who stumbles into their lives by accident) against a glittering Los Angeles backdrop of wealth and privilege. Lyla is tasked with destroying the life of their latest unwitting tenant in a long standing game that her husband and mother-in-law invented. The game is that they rent part of their home to a self-made person on the cusp of success and then slowly unmake them. But Lyla can’t figure Demi out because she’s not who they were expecting to show up when the game began.

I would have enjoyed this book more if I approached it as a dark comedy instead of a straight thriller. The over-the-top descriptions of wealth, the lack of moral compasses among the characters and the weird descriptions of things as mundane as Graham’s scent made it an odd reading experience overall. It was written as if someone listened to Lorde’s “Royals” on repeat decided to write a book about rich people being awful. There was nothing remotely human or relatable about the interactions within the entire book and I quickly grew exhausted of their machinations (and Graham’s scent) and just wanted people to die or whatever. 

I wanted to enjoy this one and be entertained by the scenario of Spoiled vs Scrappy but none of the characters were clever or interesting enough to make it work for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Classism, Gore, Drug abuse, Drug use, Animal death, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, and Toxic relationship

carolynlovesbooks's review

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Gun violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship