Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi

3 reviews

faulklore's review

dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

2.0

trigger 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Racism, Drug use, Alcoholism, Murder, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Death of parent, and Suicide

bookbelle5_17's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Review of Black Mouth

By: Ronald Malfi

            When Jamie Warren was thirteen, he, his brother Dennis, and two best friends Mia and Clay encounter a mysterious known as the Magician.  He teaches them magic tricks, tells them they can learn magic, but asks them to do terrible things such as sacrifice Dennis.  As an adult, Jamie is haunted by those memories becoming an alcoholic like his abusive father, but now he is being called home to Black Mouth.  The Magician has returned, and Jamie, Dennis, Mia, and Clay intend to stop him before he poisons any more children.

            This dark and creepy story has supernatural undertones as you don’t know if the Magician is an immortal or if the character’s minds are playing tricks on them.  Jamie like a lot of unreliable narrators in thrillers is an alcoholic so you find yourself not sure if he is haunted by metaphorical ghosts or literal ghosts.  This adds to creepy and unsettledness to the plot as its hard to determine what’s real and what isn’t.  Jamie as a main character is sympathetic with his addiction, his fears about the magician, and his complicated emotions towards Dennis.  He loves Dennis but finds it challenging to take of his brother.  The other two characters Mia and Clay are interesting too.  Clay was born with a disfigurement known as Vitiligo, meaning he lacked pigmentation on certain parts of his skin, and he would get bullied mercilessly.  As an adult he deals with it a lot better and helps kids with issues like his.  Mia on the other hand, lost her parents in a car accident and had become obsessed with death, eventually making horror movies as adult.  They deal with what happened in their own way.  Clay wanting to make sure they protect others like them, Mia wants revenge, and Jamie wants to run taking care of his brother with him.  It reflects how they each cope with trauma; Clay uses it to make him stronger, Mia is full of anger fueling her, and Jamie avoids.  There is foul language and one character whose head I hated being inside.  He has ugly thoughts that bothered me.  The story is good with themes of friendship and the darkness within all of us. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Homophobia, Bullying, Physical abuse, Self harm, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Child abuse, Murder, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, and Addiction

kermit_the_wrong's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Suicide, Child abuse, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Torture, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Animal death, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Blood, Murder, and Death of parent

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Pedophilia, and Racism