Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Sundial by Catriona Ward

33 reviews

noisivweneht's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I can’t believe I got Alfred Hitchcocked

I enjoyed it. Not the way I thought the book was going to go, but it kept my attention. 

I felt bad for Rob for basically the whole book and then I had to keep sitting there wondering if I should. The pov switch makes it feel like either one of them could be an unreliable narrator.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

jfren's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

kds247's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. It was well written and had some really interesting twists

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death

sardinetin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

justlurkin's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Violence

laneychaney's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility

jrocbutterfly's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book passes a little slowly at the beginning but does not take long to Amp up to a full throttle roller coaster. Told from 2 perpecrives, one of Rob and one of her daughter Callie. Sundial is a terrifying tale of the question, does human experience or true nature make a person evil. Or is it a little bit of both. Ward keeps you guessing through the whole book on what is true, what you truly know, and what really happened. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Self harm, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

jesselyn's review against another edition

dark sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

lebishop13's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

This is very possibly the most terrifying book I've ever read. It's definitely going to keep me thinking for a looooong time. Read it, so we can think about it together. 

From the start, Rob's relationship with her husband, her family, and the world around her is bizarre and kind of skewed. You can't quite put your finger on what is so unsettling. Every time you find something else out, you have to just keep asking yourself, "but why?!"

And then the pieces start coming together. And you can't look away. But are they coming together? The two narrators are so at odds with each other, you really don't know who to trust. 

I can picture this as movie with a really strong color palette that changes as the plot progresses or depending on whose POV you're in.

There's also some really great unspoken commentary on the ethics of science which was the cherry on top of this thriller. 

Read this if you like thrillers with the house/setting as a character, along with unreliable narrators, and a dash of ethics thrown in. 

TW: abuse - child, spouse, animal

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Miscarriage, Self harm, and Death of parent

jet_nebula's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Violence, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm and Pregnancy

Minor: Child death