Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Asylum by Patrick McGrath

6 reviews

maddalenacesco's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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

4.0

woman in a dark academia setting gets gaslighted and gaslights "from dusk till dawn", in the words of famous English poet Zayn Malik.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Body horror, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Addiction, Alcohol, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

lxyeey's review against another edition

dark sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Alcoholism, Child death, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Addiction

giulia_bis's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-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? Yes

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Child death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Sexual assault

shellyyy_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

è molto bello, è il
mio primo libro psicologico che ho letto. ne vale la pena leggerlo. contiene scene macabre e anche di sesso. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Suicide, Addiction, Child death, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

sehnsucht's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide

elsakern's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

2.0

This book is dark, but far from a thriller. Picking it up, I knew I would probably hate it or at least have very complicated feelings about it, but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I took off a star for its frankly shitty depiction of women and people with mental illnesses.

Spoiler

I found the ending both aggravating and chilling. The way in which peter tells it is very gross. He abuses his authority over a mentally ill patient by trying to marry her which is so so unethical and then describes her as manipulative. He had a responsibility to her as his patient to actually try to help her, but instead he sexualized her and ignored the fact that she obviously wasn’t making progress. Despite how angry this makes me feel, i think it was deliberate by McGrath (or at least I certainly hope so) which is why I feel more terrified by his actions than anything.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Child death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcoholism, Misogyny, and Forced institutionalization