Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Sangue inquieto by Robert Galbraith

10 reviews

luli_maria's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, and Torture

Moderate: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug abuse and Death of parent

wytherwytch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

This book...!

So I have really wrestled with reading the Strike series after everyone saying at how transphobic JK is. I have tried to educate myself on this matter to understand it. While I do understand some concerns - mainly surrounding the women's shelter that JK funds - I also think that the argument as it were is more nuanced than the majority give credit. I wish it something more open to discussion - the downside of cancel culture is that it takes away the ability to discuss, to understand, to find middle ground. But none of this is about the book so I digress - apologies

I recovered my guilt from reading this while crying about the storyline involving Strike's Aunt Joan. It was powerful and relatable. 

My main criticism of this series is that the books are so long but a lot happened in this one and I have idea where I would have cut any of it. It was a joy to read. It made me laugh, and cry. Brilliant stuff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

stirlitza's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Suicide attempt

melitiamelitia's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, and War

microbemom's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

charlmax's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

Robert Galbraith is a master at spinning a tale full of toxic and unhappy relationships.

It would easy to mistake this book for a sloooooow burn romance instead of the murder mysetery it should be. I miss the days of Cuckoo's Calling and Silkworm.

If the focus of this book was the investigation into the doctor that went missing and not the many, many relationships Strike has, it would be 400 pages and not over 900.

As far as the investigation side goes, there was plenty of time spent on discussing clues and ideas in an attempt to lead the reader on. And it also highlights the challenges that can arise during a cold case

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

sauvageloup's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Complicated feelings over this one

Pros:
- Rowling is an exceptional writer; the complicated but satisfying plot, the mixture of straightforward tone interspersed with moments of lyrical descriptions and reflection, the characterisation and development, the slowly eked out relationship development, the depth of every single side character, how each character's dialogue is made distinct and accents rendered realistically, the research that's clearly gone into it... just so much to admire in the actual writing and her skill.
- I like Robin and Strike and many of the other side characters. They feel real and Rowling puts across their emotions very well. There's a very real feeling of being as harried and pressured as Strike clearly is with everything piling up and then the release at the end.
- the plot was complex but wrapped up very neatly at the end. It was complicated by various characters' mixed motives but it didn't feel forced.

Cons:
- My only complaint about the writing was that it was *massively* confusing at the beginning. SO. MANY. NAMES. Got super confused. Also later on completely forgot who

Joanna Hammond

, which might be due to it being 3am right now, but still. Took the punch out of the revelation at the end because I couldn't remember who the hell they were talking about.
- Rowling's views... Rowling as a person... that was just in my head the whole time I was reading.
- her views then come through in this book, more than the others I think. This is the first book to come out post Rowling revealing herself as a massive transphobe and I think there's a lot of elements of that that come through in this.
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There's the killer, Creed, dressing up in women's clothes to lull his victims into a sense of security, which is the most transphobic bit. Then there's a good bit of fatphobia in there with obvious scorn and disgust angled towards fat people, including Creed being obese. A point I hated a lot was when it's made fun of that Irene has IBS. The condition is given to an already dislikeable character and it's encouraging the reader to laugh at her during that whole episode, which I thought was really cruel. No-one, however dislikeable, should be subject to mockery because of a chronic and painful medical condition. There were other bits too and I can't speak for disabled people but I wasn't sure how some of the portrayals of disabled people would come off to them. Then there's points where I felt that Rowling was hammering home other points, about women's safety, about Robin's rape, about domestic abuse, manipulative men, feminism, and about people who arguing for changing language rather than actually making a difference (the students Strike has a rant at in Max's flat over a so called 'slutwalk'). None of that was wrong, but I felt it linked back to Rowling's perception of herself within the world.

Anyway, the book was written excellently, but Rowling is a piece of shit. Unfortunately, I am also very jealous of her writing abilities and wish they'd been given to someone more worthy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism

Minor: Addiction, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

kdmusings's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

As with the other books in the Strike series, I was addicted from the first page. I’m not super keen on slowed paced books, but Rowling is an incredible writer. 

This book was very personal to me. However, upon reflection it is important to remember Rowling’s homophobic views and how this has been directly relayed through in her writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Miscarriage, Racism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Abortion, and Toxic friendship

andyincolour's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Murder

jgrace's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Toxic relationship