Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty

16 reviews

gladosisreading's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

This book was frustrating, as I loved the concept (a slice of life as social commentary with complex and sometimes morally grey characters), and some sections were brilliantly written (especially the sections exploring the lives of the other residents in the building). But for every spectacular bit of writing, there were equal sections that felt overwritten, drawn out, too rambling, or really laboured the point. I still can't decide how I feel about the ending and

making the stabbing non fatal seemed a bit rushed and made me question the whole point

but maybe it's just not for me! Normally I love books like this, so despite it being an alright read overall with one or two stand-out moments, I was left feeling a little underwhelmed and pretty unmotivated to finish by the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

ameliasbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

3.25

This is a tough one to review. The author throws everything at you that is on her mind and you have to deal with it. Some parts leave you breathless and others weirdly are a bit of a slog.

The writing is strong most of the time, but the story can't keep up with it. Too many side characters, whose stories don't get really elaborated and I could have really done without this totally uninteresting son of a celebrity mother.
 
I'm rating this a bit higher, because of the strong writing. The story gave me sadness and loneliness (which I'm totally here for), but apart from that, there wasn't enough meat to the bone for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcoholism and Drug use

indigo666's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

polite_yam's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, and Violence

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-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

3.5

This was parts funny, parts pathetic (not in the looser sense but in the sense it emoted empathy from me), and parts despicable. The ending was sad for me (that was pathetic, for example). But getting to the end was largely amusing, but only if I removed myself from the characters (usually, I read as if I was a fly on the wall, but in this case, I often found myself being a fly on the other side of a window). If I’d been in the house, it would’ve been far too pathetic and far too despicable and hence, too hard to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Death of parent

peckreadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

cstein's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

In this ambitious and then painfully pointed examination of contemporary struggle, Gunty employs a unique narrative style and extensive knowledge of her spiritual and philosophical forebears to great effect. The late, Dostoevsky-esque monologue chapter was the novel's highlight and a pleasure to parse through. Gunty has a keen eye for phenomena one passively observes but never articulates. However, when it finally arrived, the scene anticipated from page one felt underexamined.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Stalking, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content and Vomit

lucyatoz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Blandine isn't like the other residents of her building. Welcome to the Rabbit Hutch. 

Well, that was a reading experience I was not expecting at all! The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty is a gut retching novel, with an online obituary writer, an old couple who have a rodent problem, a young mother with a secret and four teenagers who have aged out of state foster care, living as neighbours in a run down, lost cost apartment block. The story is set over the space of a week and accumulates with a violent stabbing. 

I appreciated how the narrative was written and how the story elicited strong emotions as I read it, however I felt that it did not flow exactly and sometimes the plot lacked focus. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

laurataylor's review against another edition

dark slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ashar_allaire's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

3.75

I have mixed feelings about this book. I listened to it as an audio book, which I made it hard for me to keep track of all the characters and loose threads. That being said, I am sure I would've DNFed this in physical form because some chapters were over an hour long. I loved the story, and I found each character interesting, I just found myself being like "Wait, what? Who is talking? What's happening?" way too much. 

The end of this book is predictable by design, but I still found it anticlimactic. James never confesses, and Joan never felt fleshed out enough for it to end with her. The reason the sacrifices continued was never clear to me. It felt like I had to suspend my disbelief quite a bit as it was a clunky plot point at best. I am also not sure why the older couple or Hope were included, but maybe I just missed something there.

I genuinely did love this book overall and the opening chapter was the most beautiful opening chapter I have ever read. The prose is unique and powerful. I would recommend it with the warning that it is dense and difficult to keep track of at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Stalking, Death of parent, and Pregnancy