Reviews tagging 'Torture'

L'amore bugiardo by Gillian Flynn

19 reviews

mashtonok's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Was interested in the first half, then invested for 20 pages of act 2, then completely uninterested in anything said or done until the last 30 pages. The last 30 had me hooked. This was a roller coaster of whether I wanted to finish the book or not. 

The writing itself was super vivid, and the characters' voices were super strong. Glad I decided to finish.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Body shaming, Infertility, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Stalking

mermaidread's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Misogyny, Sexual content, Vomit, and Alcohol

nanditha14's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.0

The plot twists are good. The book is difficult to get through because everyone is so intensely unlikable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Pregnancy

rowanelisa's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.0

If you want to read a toxic sociopathic petty drama fest, this is the book for you.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

maddierosen's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Cancer and Pregnancy

hannahmg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

 0/1 overall
1/2 writing/structure/character creation
1/2 enjoyment

I would not recommend this book.

Overall I did not enjoy this book, the first 250 page were not needed and were poorly written, the last 50 pages were as bad as the first part of the book. I only enjoyed a small snippet of the book. The length of this triller is way to long and unnecessary. I felt like I was reading a first draft of a idea.

The writing was partly smart with good ideas but poorly done, the journal extracts giving us a unreliable pov which was smart, reminded me of Dracula, but this was done in a manner which made it worthless, more dialogue than actually description, this was so unrealistic it was unnecessary to make it seem like a dairy. Nicks pov was closer to a dairy than Amy's own dairy entries. The repetition was unbearable, -yes Nick we get it you have a mistress and she is young, very young, and pretty.
The character creation was immense and well though through, Amy and Nick are both so realistic but fucked up at the same time. This is one of the major reasons it is a two and not a one star review.

I thought there was a lot of unnecessary added details, the level of Misogyny and sexism was not needed and weakly touched on at the end. Specifically the character of Nick's father who has Dementia and becomes extremely misogynistic, with the use of the slur "bitch" in both his speech and Nicks thoughts. Why add this, I just think the book would of been fine without it and it didn't feel like a representation of any sorts but more a tick for the check list and even excusing the behaviour.

I was very disappointed in the trigger warning list i found (Storygraph). Yes it is a thriller, we should expect triggering things but at the end of the day the book should have a page of trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

gabbynasty's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

renyoi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Evocative, thrilling, ridiculously clever, sinister. Sharp and complex commentary on feminism, misogyny, generational trauma, heterosexual relationships, sociopathy, familial dynamics, and the media sphere circa 2010. It’s a lot of ground to cover, but somehow this book weaves these threads together deftly into one whole, complete, devastating portrait of mutually assured destruction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Incest

devinaaaa'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Murder, and Pregnancy