Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Push by Ashley Audrain

18 reviews

kirstenw13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No

I can’t give this stars yet because I’m still processing. This book was all of my fears regarding marriage and motherhood played out. It carved my heart out of my chest and hit it with an SUV. The book was cathartic as well, there was something comforting about reading the worst scenarios I can imagine. Anyway, I can’t say I liked it but The Push will stay with me for a long time and if that isn’t the mark of a good book I’m not sure what is.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Excrement, Medical content, Dementia, and Toxic friendship

rachel7588's review against another edition

sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Miscarriage, Rape, Abortion, and Death of parent

moonmoonsun's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

samlopez93's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Intense, chilling, and psychological, The Push is one book I could get out of my head for a while!! <Spoiler>Not sure if this is really a spoiler to say but I'll tag it just in case! Fans of The Good Son will very likely love this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Minor: Domestic abuse, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

cdingler07's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Struggling with how to rate this. It’s SO good but it’s also so complex and deep that it almost feels wrong to rate it so highly. One of the best books I’ve read at conveying complex feelings. I couldn’t help but take on the hurt of the main character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abortion

bon_xx's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, and Stalking

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Gore, Miscarriage, Blood, Dementia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

claire_reardon's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.0

I waited two entire months on Libby…for this? Maybe it was just the Tik Tok hype but I didn’t find this as crazy and captivating as everyone said it was. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

sighsborg's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I finished this in one sitting, I’ll give it that. The Push is a very fast read and a bit of a page turner. The beginning had so much suspense and tension I was wondering where the book would go. However, the farther I got into the book, the less I found myself in suspense. Maybe this book was mismarketed, but to me this isn’t as much as a thriller as it is the analysis and dissection of motherhood and what it means to be a mother. I found myself empathizing with the main character at times and not at all in others. The flashbacks to Blythe’s mother, Cecelia’s childhood, I found unnecessary and really ruined the flow of the book for me. I think some of the wording she chose uncomfortable at sometimes, and maybe that was the author’s intent, however it just didn’t work for me. The ending was a bit of a let down. I think the way the book is narrated is a strength and a weakness of this book at times. All I can say is that at times, I found this to be a weak knockoff of You. Wish we could have gotten the POV of Violet or Fox somewhere in this story in order to give us a breather from this narration.

Not quite sure how I feel about this book.

I found the ‘evil child’ element of this story really weak and a bit… wrong.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Miscarriage, Blood, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

drownedinfictionx's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

abrasieve's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Self harm, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse and Excrement

Minor: Cursing, Sexual content, Vomit, and Abortion