Reviews tagging 'Rape'

A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck

5 reviews

surdiablo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

A great novella featuring a concept with tremendous potential, borrowed from The Library of Babel short story by Borges. The writing style is pretty straightforward and it's a far cry from Borges really, so the ideas are easy to grasp. I was hooked from the very beginning and couldn't put it down, regardless of its depressing nature. It's designed to make you wonder about insanity deriving from the infinite, which the author succeeds at very well. However, I gotta confess I am a bit underwhelmed as well, regardless of everything I have mentioned so far. It feels like the book could have been significantly better if it had an additional 30-50 pages, or was a 300-page novel even. Everything felt somewhat undercooked, which prevented me from fully experiencing the intended impact. Like I said before, it's a concept with a lot of potential, so the story could have used additional or different developments perhaps, fleshed out things further, etc. I would highly recommend it anyway because it's really memorable regardless of its shortcomings since the latter mainly originates from my own expectations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Suicide

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Alcoholism and Rape

ariet's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Rape

acnienow's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

Thought provoking and probably my most annotated book ever! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Body horror, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcohol, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Drug use, and Physical abuse

Minor: Terminal illness, Self harm, and Racism

xaphriel's review

challenging mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Torture, Rape, and Murder

hardy314's review against another edition

challenging funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

One of the most interesting short stories I've read in a long time. It was challenging to deal with the immensity of the situation but it was an interesting thought experiment that I really loved. Also, it's wickedly funny.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Rape

Minor: Alcoholism