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moosereads1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
However, that’s where the good parts stopped. The scenes with Geraldine were just disgusting, and not only that but they were just poorly written. So many parts were horribly written. The descriptions were just strange and some of the lines were unbearably cheesy and cliche, especially toward the end. Overall it was disgusting, brutal, and all over the place in terms of writing style. Can’t say I recommend at all.
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
marslotus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
To start off, if I had a quarter for every time I rolled my eyes while reading, I could probably pay for my groceries. I believe the book was trying to do something clever, or just for the sake of writing explicit scenes, by not adhering to traditional story structure when introducing the antagonists and their motivations. We are seemingly meant to view the character Rock Stanley as the main character (I only assume so because the book starts and ends with his perspective) despite the fact he is an obstacle for the cast we are supposed to root for, therefore making him an antagonist (“his” side are the ones issuing most of the narrative challenges, not the children/parents who are facing them). We're shown through his detailed narration the horrible situation he has been raised in and how he longs to be free of it, as well as well as his abuser's motivation and history for why she's doing these things to him and to the protagonists. Showing these thoughts from the very beginning as opposed to discovering them alongside the protagonists leads to the issue of padding, something the book's middle suffers greatly from. The antagonists are already on the precipice of change (or stagnation in Geraldine's case) and are simply waiting for that last push towards either the dark or light, something that only comes at the end of the book. This creates scenes that are an absolute chore to return to over and over with the antagonists restating the same things they're feeling with different words. I feel like this could be easily rectified by focusing more on the protagonists experiences with the antagonists and find out their backstories either ⅓ or halfway through the story. This way, there's more things for the parents to do in the middle than cry or scream at each other and Rock thinking some form of “Maybe I'm on the wrong side” again and again.
Additionally, this book has a serious problem with telling instead of showing. From the moment the author decided to describe a 7-year-old girl as sadistic, I was so curious how that description would have been built upon,
This book very rarely struck fear or horror in me which I find so upsetting because I love being horrified. I will give the author the fact that he's talented in describing the gore and injury these characters go through as well as establishing traits that make me care and hate certain characters (though the “telling not showing” issue occasionally arises in the latter aspect). I just wish it was all structured a bit differently, that horror was the utmost goal of the narrative and not a simple gross-out attempt.
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Homophobia, Infertility, Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Alcohol
Minor: Fatphobia
valereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infertility, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, and Classism
shamwow2000's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment
Minor: Trafficking
horrorhayleigh's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism