Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

18 reviews

chloseencounter's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

This book began in a way that I thought I knew exactly where it was going to go but flipped so I could’ve never predicted what would happen. When you intake so much horror it can all start to feel similar and I’m impressed with what this story accomplished. I was drawn in by the POV of a cat but enjoyed this read more than I could’ve ever anticipated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

aardwyrm's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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

3.0

It's fun to read, and the genre is full of works that are great atmosphere 90% of the way through and then don't stick the landing. If you just want spooky eeriness, it's not a bad choice. It's just ultimately got nothing it's actually about. The setup seems to promise a situation where lots of cliche genre stuff seems to be true, and then the big twist is all the cliche stuff is in fact true, just obfuscated. It's definitely going for twisty and intricate, but a twist and just changing the story partway through aren't really the same thing. Exactly the sort of book I think ought to have a warning sticker you can optionally peek under so you can know before you get invested if the supernatural is just a bad metaphor. When the big reveal is nothing interesting has really happened, then it's hard to care about what comes before. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

themaddbeanie's review against another edition

dark 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5

Readers will be like, "What a crazy twist!" when the author lies to you for 250 pages and then decides to tell you the truth at the end.
Yeah, someone's mental illness is not your horror story. You can't just steal a real disorder and turn it into a "freak show" for others to gawk at. Disrespectful

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Grief, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit

I feel like this could potentially be very upsetting for people with certain mental illnesses or those who have experienced abuse.

kjm_x's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

mommarex1221's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

At 25%, I considered DNFing... but I stuck it out. Halfway through, I was finally starting to come around. Pieces of the story were falling into place and the more of the picture I saw the more and more I was blown away. If there's anything that intrigues you about this, please read on. I promise the pay off is worth it. 
I knew from the first few chapters that what Ward had created was masterfully written, even if I questioned what exactly it was that I was reading. This book will stick with me. 
Triggers galore. Explore at your own risk, some may be considered spoilers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

unphilosophize's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

1.0

 I did not enjoy this book. The story felt disjointed and like the author changed their mind what the book was about halfway through writing. One of the main characters was also severely undeveloped. The plot was fairly predictable.

I will never like a book that uses mental illness as a plot point.

A lot of folks talked about how they liked the afterward, and while I agree that it was an important thing to add it was poorly executed. I did not feel that her explanation really did justice to the diagnosis that she chose to exploit in her book, nor did it really talk about the controversy around that diagnosis in a good way.

Overall extremely disappointing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

elliotvanz's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

1.5

Imagine taking Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, or Faulkner's Sound and the Fury, and sticking them in a blender with Stephen King and Gillian Flynn. This book takes the unreliable narrator to new heights and distorts reality into a pretzel. The pacing flies along, and feels akin to chasing someone through very dark woods with a dim flashlight, the plot revealed in snatches of perfect clarity in between long heart-stopping moments of blindness. A character study, as well as a suspense novel, Ward uses language to tease her readers along the path all the way to the twisty conclusion. If you're a fan of thrillers this one will not disappoint.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Blood, and Murder

sorcha_rosa's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

I found this impossible to rate because of it's subject matter. I understood what she was trying to do with this story, but I'm not sure this was the best way to do it? I would be interested in what own-voices reviewers would have to say about this one.

I think this needs to be written by someone with DID, or an own-voices perspective. I understand that she was trying to use our own biases against us and show us that this main character was actually not a murderer but in fact the victim. However, I'm not sure that that was the best way to show us a character with DID. It came across as someone being like, 'oh yeah, they're not a psychopathic murderer, they just have DID.' which might not be the best representation, even if they have this redeemable arch at the end? I don't know, I need to hear someone own-voices reviewers as I said. As someone who is neurodiveregent though, I wouldn't want this type of story written about me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Stalking, and Death of parent