Reviews tagging 'Death'

Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton

5 reviews

jackiepreston's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

2.75

I wanted more out of this book and more about Louise specifically. All of the characters felt pretty thinly drawn, but I could excuse that because it was all from Louise's perspective and she's a sociopath. But there were so many things brought up about Louise in the privacy of her own head that sounded interesting, sometimes way more interesting than what was happening in the back half of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse and Rape

4minata's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

First half of the book is frivolously slow and grandiose. Second is gritty and unexpected. The writing tackles the lofty goal of  interjecting internet consciousness into natural language and falls short of this at times but the story itself is exciting and is a biting critique on the blurred boundaries of identity in the digital age. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Suicide, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Classism

whimsicalish's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

1.5

This is not the worst book I have read this year. It has an over-the-top story, horrid cast of characters, and the twist is spoiled by its own damned self. Maybe it wasn't for me.

Although, spoiling the twist in the second chapter is a very odd choice. It straight up tells you what happens... in the second chapter. Why would you do that? You removed any and all suspense leading up to that moment. I don't want a book to tell me what's going to happen. I want to experience it myself.

All of the characters feel like caricatures. They don't feel real like real people. The main character, Louise, does start off human and relatable. Sadly after the second half of the book, she's just as exaggerated. One dimension characters. One is popular and everyone wants her. One is socially desperate. One gets attention with his homophobic slurs and sexist jokes. And ultimately everyone excuses it because they're all rich and vain, stepping on each other to be number one.

And it's perfectly fine to write a book with shitty people. Shitty people exist. But when they are all uninteresting and have the same basic personality, it's boring. At a certain point, I do not care what happens to them. I don't want them to succeed.

The ending was completely unsatisfying for me. I don't understand why this went the direction that it did. The writing wasn't great either. Odd breaks in scenes and the strange invisible narrator telling me what is happening in the story that I am reading. Some questionable choices here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Lesbophobia

teki_p's review

dark informative reflective fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Racism, Sexism, Vomit, and Lesbophobia

jellie23's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol