Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Liar, Dreamer, Thief by Maria Dong

7 reviews

a_libraryghost's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Ableism, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, and Car accident

Minor: Racism and Excrement

caitlynes91's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

Adored this! Might become a 5 star after sitting with it ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Stalking

Moderate: Suicide and Murder

Minor: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Kidnapping

zenzi2read's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Excrement and Vomit

bookmarkie's review

adventurous dark inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Gaslighting

Minor: Confinement, Racism, and Vomit

zombiezami's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

This was so amazingly written and constructed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Cancer and Car accident

kmsander4's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I have mixed feelings about reviewing Liar, Dreamer, Thief.

On the one hand, I really struggled to get into this book. The first 50 pages or so felt like a real slog. Katrina kept slipping in and out of her "dream world" and I was having to contend with paragraphs explaining geometry to me. I left geometry back in school. I couldn't figure out what it was doing in a book that was described as a page-turning thriller.

Then, all of a sudden, it turned. The twists started to appear. Characters started to become shadier and shadier, fewer things were adding up, clues kept leading Katrina all over the place. Now, the pages were really turning. I wanted to see where this was going. I began to understand Katrina's dream world. I even realized the purpose of the geometry talk as it guided me through the evolving storyline that quickly become more twisted and convulted.

The ending? Well, I saw some of it coming but certainly not all of it. Clues that I thought were being dropped for me to connect, turned out to be big fat red herrings. And who doesn't love a good red herring?

So, in short, yes, the first chunk feels a bit tedious but once you push through it, the thriller really shines!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Stalking

Moderate: Vomit and Murder

Minor: Cancer, Death, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Kidnapping, Car accident, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

lettuce_read's review

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cancer