Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

51 reviews

lady_valhella's review against another edition

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

It is dark and twisted. I would not say terrifying in the way It was terrifying. I would say more like if you have mommy issues then yes it’s terrifying. It is definitely a master class into the darker side of humanity and the lasting effects  that nature can have on all parties in and around the life of one sick f@cker. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Grief, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death, Suicide attempt, Violence, Abandonment, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Murder

tiffanielle's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Self harm, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Suicide, Child death, Death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Mental illness, Vomit, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicidal thoughts

support_lesbian's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

I understand what this author was trying to do with this story and the main character in particular, and overall it's executed pretty well and with kindness. However this a fictional story before its an educational one so regardless of the good depiction DID of the pacing issues plus lack of stakes and parts of the ending hold it back for me calling this book something special.

Maybe this was the point or just me in particular but I really don't think calling this a horror novel really does this book any favors unless the point of labeling it as such was to subvert expectations of common abelist horror tropes, but even so it still feels bad waiting for a punch in gut that may or may come for you. I don't know if its something to think about or not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Mental illness, Child death, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, and Murder

cait_henry56's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I just finished the audiobook and there are no words I can find to describe how this book made me feel. I need to buy a physical copy, but until then I know this book has lodged itself into my heart and brain. It's incredibly dark, however, so read the trigger warnings before starting. But my god, what a beautiful pain to experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Grief, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

lilias's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I absolutely hated the first 50 or so pages of this book, and I almost quit reading it, which I almost never do. But somewhere around that 50th page, I started to want to know what was going to happen and how it would unfold. Then, maybe 50 pages after that, I realized I did not want to stop reading and that I would finish this book before the day was over. 

The first 50 or so pages of this book just seemed full of misplaced whimsy and weirdness. I don’t like it when something, a book or a film, goes out of its way to be weird just for the sake of being weird. But nothing grabs my attention like a mystery. And when little reveals started to peel away the silly veneer that was, when it came down to it, author Catronia Ward speaking in (infuriating) riddles, I was hooked. I wish I had been so invested in the entire book, but, still, this was a really good reading experience for me, overall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Torture, Confinement, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fatphobia, Suicide, Death of parent, and Self harm

kassiebee's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

A Pleasant and Not-So-Pleasant Surprise

i went into this book not knowing a thing- not even the synopsis. i saw the creepy cover (with the cat) and i thought “this looks spooky…lets do it”.

as i read the first few chapters, i was  fully expecting a mysterious, killer-catching, revenge having, story. until the

Spoiler

D.I.D implications started. i caught on pretty fast, but it wasn’t a deal breaker. I was intrigued but, I’m not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed too. the mystery of Girl with Popsicle really got me in the mood to figure out how, when, and where Ted pulled this all off. and SO excited to read a thrilling escape by Lauren and Olivia. I didn’t care if it didn’t make sense that Lauren could understand cats. (a flaw on my part)

 BUT… after my excitement wore off, and changed my expectations… i was glad (accepted) where the story was going. As i read on, i found myself intrigued by the explanation of it all. it all really, really made sense. And i enjoyed it. i LOVED how Ward was able to make me feel icky about Ted at the beginning, to making me happy for him in the end. love that.

All in all, the slow reveal of Ted’s psyche for us to figure out was fun- you can tell that Ward did her homework.

Now on to what I didn’t like…

Spoiler

Dee, Dee, Dee… had so much potential. i didn’t care for her. i appreciated and understood her role in the story, but her death did not affect me as much as I hoped/should have. and bug man?? that incident in the bar/store was just bizarre, how he was just kinda left there and not really mentioned again. that’s a bookish pet peeve of mine ‘‘v.v …

Lastly , unpopular opinion, but i did not enjoy Olivia’s chapters …. oops. i found myself rushing through them to get to Lauren and Ted, even Dee. It took a while for her chapters to get interesting even though they had really important tidbits and clues. love this cute gay cat but i just idk…

would i re-read? nah
am i glad i did? yeah 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death of parent, Death, Self harm, Child death, Mental illness, Murder, Blood, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Addiction

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Murder, Torture, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Homophobia

Minor: Religious bigotry and Abandonment

killmoore_'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'm without words.

Best book I have read all year, and in the top 5 for all time. I cannot express how much I loved this book. 

It will make you feel all the things, drop you on your skull and do it all over again. 10/10 will be recommending to anyone who enjoys the genre.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Stalking, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Torture

ryleighhhhhh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I personally found this to be brilliant. It was hard to get through the beginning but once you got past the first several chapters it was a hard book to put down. Not necessarily a horror novel but it’s absolutely worth the read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, and Mental illness

stardustvein's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Grief, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Murder

suchsweetsorrow89's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

wow. just wow. going into this book blind, i was in for a whirlwind. i thought i knew what the twist would be, and to some extent i was correct, but i was proven wrong again and again. ward has an absolutely brilliant way of stringing the story along and tying together all lose ends in ways that are partly scary, partly going to make you feel weird, but are ways that are complex and imaginative. but most of all, ward details this book in a way that is simply there, right before our very eyes from the beginning that makes it incredibly unique while also functioning on one of the most basic aspects of the horror classics that makes it so moving and just downright incredible. the afterward is incredibly powerful and, to some extent, left me very emotional (granted, i get emotional pretty easily, so that might not have been her intention). the twists and turns in the book will challenge everything you know about the story and it's overall message in ways that will forever remain impactful.

Spoiler

the one thing i really want to flag for those who have read the book is that i think ward put so much time into researching the effects of DID in ways that must be praised and celebrated. she took so much care into not making this one of those classic horror stories that come off offensive to actually craft a narrative that everyone can relate to at it's basic level: though we all seemingly strive for the good, sometimes the path of memory, acceptance, and forgiveness does not look linear for all, and that sometimes the very key to forgive ourselves and begin to live life and survive again looks like doing just that again and again and learning to celebrate and be angry at sometimes and just lean in. and that is perhaps the most beautiful message to put in a horror book especially.

as an avid nerd of the classics and dabbles into what defines the monstrous, this book borrows from so much of these classic authors and hallmark texts and really extracts the themes that make them work (i.e. religion, alienation, body horror, gender constructions, growing up, sexuality, the transcendental spaces of the woods and water, even down to the classic 'haunted house' trope, and so much more) while also developing an entirely unique product in the end that makes me happy i decided to pick up this horror book (as someone who doesn't really read horror) and makes me even more excited to see both what ward and other contemporary horror writers will do in the future. highly recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Child death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, Torture, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Medical content, Gore, Domestic abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Body shaming

Spoiler

suicide and suicide attempt