Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Liar, Dreamer, Thief by Maria Dong

4 reviews

a_libraryghost's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

This book wasn’t quite what I expected going in with the second half starting to veer more away from the mental illness aspect and to the mystery. Still I really liked it. I picked up this book for its potential OCD representation and while she is never given a diagnosis in the book, it’s very likely this is at least one of if not the primary condition she has. I personally think it’s done quite well. This is not the kind of OCD I have, but kinds like this are very real and even though her compulsions were very different to mine the general anxiety and thinking patterns were very familiar. She’s definitely an interesting character to be in the head of and I’d love to read more characters like Katrina.

I also loved the background of her and her parents and the development of that arc.

I was less compelled by the actual mystery and found the reveal and ending a bit convoluted and a general tone shift from the rest of the book. I actually really liked the closed in corporate setting and I can see can see the general connections and ideas the author Maria Dong had but I think it would have benefitted from being more closed in and intimate the whole way through.

Slight Rant
Can we please stop portraying blind characters as not being able to see anything at all? It’s not that these people don’t exist, they do, but they make up a tiny amount of the blind population but pretty much all blind representation. Unless you’re born with no vision or have your eyes removed the likelihood of going completely blind later in life-such as in a car accident- is next to none. 

Sincerely, a blind book lover who just wants to read any other presentation of blindness 

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zedohee's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

takes forever to get going (NEVER have i wanted a book to get to the point more in my life) and then once it does, shies away from the deranged intensity it teases—i was so curious and for that? deeply unserious—to give way to a convoluted, overstuffed, and unnecessarily dense read. why was i able to skip multiple chapters only to have the katrina in the exact same predicament all those pages forward. why was everyone but katrina either ornamental or an obnoxious parody. so many twists for twists sake when the narrative was already unspooling. there are a few moments where i could tell there was a carefully constructed story underneath the rambling but that version never quite materialized and definitely didn’t stick. a major let down that didn’t even have the nerve to be gay about it. 
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stardustdreamer's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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azazellos_fang's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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