Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

223 reviews

iane_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, and Medical content

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Transphobia, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

lefthandlou's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I wanted to like this book, I was so hopeful from the book description that it would be just my thing, but no. I hated it. It tried to be a Shakespearean Secret History and failed at both. None of the characters felt like real people, their motivations were ridiculous, and they were all selfish, narcissistic, self-obsessed assholes. Asshole characters are fine, I don’t have to like the characters to like the story, but the plot also just didn’t do anything for me. I think this is another book that could have been good, I liked the premise a lot and love an academic setting, but ultimately it just fell short for me. 

Also, even though the author is a woman, the depiction of Meredith in particular felt extremely misogynistic to me. All the women characters felt underdeveloped compared to the men, and the women only really exist to bolster the male drama. They rarely interact with each other, and when they do they treat each other badly. They are just unfleshed out tropes. And maybe that’s the point somehow, they each fill a typical Shakespearean female archetype, but if so it was very badly done. Wouldn’t pass the bechdel test, that’s for sure. 

Station Eleven did what this was trying to do with Shakespeare much, much better. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

augustrogue's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

1.0

I was so hyped for this book and truly wanted to love it - unfortunately, while it had a few fleeting moments of some very lovely prose, it ended up feeling like a bit of a pretentious mess. Multiple, long scenes that were basically play-by-plays of Shakespearean stage productions. Inexplicable switches into script-style dialogue that disrupts the flow terribly: (not from the book, just an example)

Meredith: "Where did Alexander go?" 
Me: "I don’t know." 
Wren: "I'm worried about him." 

...and then switches back just as abruptly, like it forgot it wasn't a screenplay for a second. Scenes that end abruptly for poetic/dramatic effect and then don't adequately explain what happened next. And I wanted a lot *more* of a relationship dynamic that was only lightly explored in the last 10% or so of the book.

The thing is, I actually *like* Shakespeare, quite a bit. The course I took on his plays was one of my favorites in university, and I still have a Complete Works anthology on my bookshelf. But I don't know, this book just made me roll my eyes a lot. At least the author acknowledges that the characters talking to each other in rapid-fire Shakespeare quotes about mundane things like they're ye olde Gilmore Girls (my own analogy, not hers) *is* super pretentious, in her ending notes. This book is for someone, maybe, but for the most part, it's not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

padawan17's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

teamoneil's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Sexism

Minor: Suicide

mikathereviewer's review against another edition

2.0

First of all we have plays, mention of poetry and of course acting. 
Personally, the touch of a play while reading was really cool. We get dialogue only, acts and more. The last play I read was really fun so seeing one now again makes me remember that I didn't read them in a while. 
The acting was relatable as I am or rather was an actor myself. That's also the reason I wanted to read this book. Not 'cause of the Shakespeare and other historical stuff but the acting. 

Some parts were actually crazy/interesting to read about as the book didn't really had the 'it was boring/too slow' problem.
Some examples:
Scene I Act IX was so crazy. Like it felt like real betrayal but also not. And what did James even imagine? What was that aaaah. 
The II. Act was so sad. Especially scene II, I feel so bad for James.

I also think that Oliver has some character depth (Especially in the III. Act as we get to know his family)

The whole drama was the only reason I was still indulged into reading this. It kept me reading.



Since I didn't read the book for the historical stuff I got a bit irriated by the fact that Shakespeare got mentioned often. And with often I mean very often. I get it that's the theme/topic for Year 4 and our protagonists also play historical figures, but honestly it could have been mentioned a bit less and more story instead. It got too much that I, at some point, skipped the Shakespeare parts. 
Also the book isn't very original if over 50% of it is just Shakespeare. 

Never have I ever as an actor reinterpreted/recited my lines as first of all no one would understand, except me and secondly that's usually a thing poets do and not actors. The kids in this story did this and it made me feel weird. Just use your official lines and learn them properly. 

The characters were so weird sometimes and before someone tells me: Some theatre kids are actually weird. Yes SOME and that's no excuse to include only weird characters. 

We never got an explanation why Richard was so mad at some point. Never. Why was he? That apparently didn't happen the years before so that must have triggered something, but we never get any explanation. The other character also have no depth and they all fell flat (except Oliver, as mentioned above)

Meredith was such a useless character who was only depictured as a wh0re the whole time. 

They did use for real, without jokes, as sexual orientation 'sexually amphibious'

The ending was so predictable. It was right the person you would feel suspicious at first. The ending is nothing shocking. 

31. July 2024

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, and Alcohol

miyothecat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Homophobia

mainereading's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

I loved this book so much and the writing was fantastic! I can't believe this was her debut novel. If you're a fan of The Secret History by Donna Tartt or even if you didn't like it but liked the idea of that book, you might really enjoy this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder and Suicide

kristinamv's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Murder

hdkroon's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, and Vomit

Minor: Sexual content and Suicide