vthecreature'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
4.0
Graphic: Death, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Confinement, Vomit, Child death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Self harm, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Rape, Body horror, Blood, Bullying, Chronic illness, Gore, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Animal death
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Sexism, and Injury/injury detail
amberinbookland's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Self harm, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Rape, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Gore, Fatphobia, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Cursing, Blood, Body horror, Alcoholism, and Addiction
princessgonchar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I'll start with painfully unsurprising. Granted, this was published in 2006, but this idea of
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crazy mother who wants to take care of her kids so she makes them sickSpoiler
Amma was a bitch the whole time and it was obvious that Adora couldn't poison the kids who weren't hersThe problem is that there was some surprise, but it came in the form of total nonsense. Like why in the world would
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Camille sleep with John????Also, I unequivocally hated every single character in this book. I want to make it clear that I didn't not like this book/its characters because it/they felt overly dark or it/they wasn't feminist enough. I mean the book is about child murder, it's going to be dark (and tbh nothing bothered me too much except for the
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incessant eyelash picking, but I have a weird thing about eyes, soThat being said: Camille wasn't endearing or even remotely sympathetic, there was literally no reason why she should have gone back to Missouri or why she stayed. I don't think the journalism thing was convincing enough. Richard sucked, her family sucked harder, and there was literally not a single character that made me go "well, at least they're in this scene." It was a constant battle of the characters to see who ended up my least favorite. And I hate to say it, but it might have been Camille.
I gave it two stars instead of one because I do genuinely think Gillian Flynn is good at writing. The voice in the novel was really good, and I liked a lot of the descriptions (even if it slowed things down a bit). Also, the reveal at the end with the
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teeth in the dollhouse was really well done, even if Amma was clearly the murderer the whole timeThis was such a disappointment for me.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Torture, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Sexual assault
Minor: Rape