Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Brother by Ania Ahlborn

11 reviews

markc64's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This booked is F*****

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Vomit, Incest, Grief, Rape, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Violence, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Torture, Child death, Body horror, Blood, Murder, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Cursing, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death of parent, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Gore, Mental illness, Death, Chronic illness, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, and Kidnapping

caseyf's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence

autumnwhite's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Body horror, Gore, Incest, Blood, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Kidnapping, Rape, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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

4.0

i would recommend that almost nobody reads this book. maybe i am just a wimp when it comes to horror but i felt like this was so unnecessarily gross and stomach-churning. i do have to say the plot was so well thought out, the characters were very well-rounded, and the writing was incredible. that is why the rating is so high. please please check content warnings!!!!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Blood, Bullying, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Addiction, Rape, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Incest, Toxic friendship, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Murder, Animal death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Sexism, Violence, Stalking, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Vomit

defeating_my_demons's review

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Gore, Murder, Cannibalism, Torture, Physical abuse, Blood, Child abuse, Death, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Gaslighting, Grief, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Stalking, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

luf100's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Gory and depressing, but still pretty good. Just not the type of book you’ll want to read if you’re looking for something lighthearted. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Toxic friendship, Rape, Stalking, and Kidnapping

Minor: Vomit and Incest

bxtskr's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

please read the content warnings for this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Incest, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Violence, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

erinamazing's review against another edition

dark sad tense

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

0.25

I don’t remember who recommended this book to me but if they’re my friend on Goodreads they’re going to be really upset with my review. TL;DR— This book was bad. It was just bad. It was gross for the sake of being “shocking” and in a way that did not propel the story. I truly wish I could take back having read it. 

Content Warning for this book: 
SA, Incest, Cruelty to Animals, Cannibalism, necrophilia, Violence, Murder (the last two are kind of expected, I guess given the book’s description)

I… don’t even know where to begin. The writing was somehow unimaginative and predictable while being about the most grotesque of subjects. None of the major plot points were thoroughly explored or sussed out. I mean, we’re dropped into a bizarre backwoods family of serial killer cannibals and yet we know very little about how this came to be and how all of these people have seemed resigned to participate in it? There’s mention that “Mama” is brutal and we know that her husband, Wade, is complicit and seems afraid of her… but WHY?

We know that Michael was abducted as a child and told his family abandoned him and that the Morrows saved him… but we don’t explore his birth family at all other than to provide shock value when Michael learns about Rebel’s elaborate plan to destroy Michael and everything/everyone he might ever care about as retribution for something Michael did as a child that resulted in the death (unknown to Michael) of the elder sister that Rebel fixated on in a very unhealthy way. And we know almost NOTHING else about this birth family except what we learn from the brief mention of Alice’s family— because that’s right folks, Michael’s love interest is his biological sister. Which Rebel also orchestrated. But also his adoptive sister tried repeatedly to seduce him as well so there’s really just quite a variety of incest in this book. 

And how, in a semi-modern time period, did you Morrows get away with never enrolling their kids in school or working outside of the home? 

And why do we accept that because “Mama” had a shit childhood she’s a casual serial killer? 

I just have… so many questions. I predicted every single twist and yet still feel I have no answers here. I’m honestly just completely disgusted by both the subject matter/plot and the quality of the writing itself. Like, if you’re going to explore taboo subjects and lean into the morally depraved and grotesque then at least do it well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Death, Bullying, Animal death, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Rape, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Incest

islabjb's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Kidnapping, and Gore

Moderate: Violence, Incest, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Pedophilia

xbeforesunrise's review against another edition

dark sad 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? N/A

5.0

This book is not for the light hearted. I enjoyed the pace and suspense. Michael was a complex character who you don’t know whether to feel bad for him or hate him.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Cannibalism, and Blood

Moderate: Bullying, Body horror, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Rape

Minor: Kidnapping, Stalking, and Vomit