Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Deliver Me by Elle Nash

7 reviews

literary_fey's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

 

When I saw this book at my local library, I was very intrigued by the premise. This book is not for the squeamish or faint of heart; it is a dark book, which is what I signed up for. Animal death, pregnancy, and insects abound, there were times I had to put the book down and take a break from it. 

When I picked up the book, my expectation was that it was going to be some sort of body horror-monster pregnancy story. Think the French film Titane meets the vibe of Gillian Flynn. I thought it was going to be revealed that Daisy, the main character, was going to give birth to some insect baby. That's not what happened in the book: instead, the climax felt very, well, anticlimactic. This sounds awful to say, but the plot of "woman steals baby while inside the mother's womb" has been done plenty of times in media. I was hoping for something different. 

Another reviewer pointed out that the way the author portrayed the people in the book was a little bizarre. The characters are from rural Missouri and are poor. They're constantly described as ugly and dirty. Fatness is also seen as a disgusting thing for the characters to be. Can we unpack that? Why are you describing these characters with such vitriol? If you're going to really lean into the small town, southern gothic, americana vibe, I think you should at least enjoy and embrace that kind of setting. 

For a literary novel, the characters were extremely one-dimensional and lacking. We get insight as to why Daisy is the way she is, since we're inside her head, but the supporting characters definitely felt lackluster. Her boyfriend is nothing beyond being an ex-con with an insect fetish. Sloane is nothing but Daisy's obsession and subject of her jealousy. Her mother is nothing but a religious woman who hates that her daughter is fat. 

I ultimately gave this book two stars since I did enjoy some aspects of it, but was pretty disappointed overall. The book felt like an absolute fever dream, but not one I particularly enjoyed.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Vomit, Murder, and Pregnancy

sarah_bookshelf's review

dark slow-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

4.5

I ... do not know how to describe this book. This author takes you places. Some of those are specific locations described in just enough detail for you to feel like you're there, some of them are dark holes inside the mind of someone who has no hope or support system. I have gone from physically nauseous to jubilant in the process of reading this, and I'm not sure I can explain how. This book explores things about ourselves and our culture that we try not to talk about. It makes its home in the mind of a lost soul that society has let down. And she's got nothing to lose. OMG READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS. I will be spending a few weeks trying to understand why I enjoyed this, and contacting some therapists.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Gore, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment

hollywobble's review against another edition

dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

cortney_d's review against another edition

dark

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This wasn’t for me. I’m not easily turned off but parts of this book were  disturbing and disgusting in ways that weren’t  entertaining or engaging for me. The devastation was heavy handed and unnecessary (as were the repeated, graphic descriptions of animal abuse) and before long I was bored reading about how horrible the MCs life was. The last 10% was predictable but still shocking. I’m not sure who the target audience is for a book like this, but it definitely isn’t me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Murder

chubbyboof's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

bee_muses's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Emotional abuse

heather_harrison's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.5

“Even if I have thought the rules were stupid, I couldn’t break my conditioning” - Dee Dee, Deliver Me. 

What the hell did I just read? This takes steps beyond a fever dream into a waking nightmare. 

This was a fantastic reflection on how conservative Christianity warps the expectations of women and motherhood, the cycle of poverty and abuse, and the insanity that is the experience of pregnancy. 

Our protagonist Dee Dee is enigmatic and bizarre.

What this story does is so well executed, but there is so much graphic violence, body horror, trauma and disturbing imagery that it is a hell of a journey to get there. 

“Cults come and go… but the Pentecostal Church is forever” 

Final point - Dee Dee only referring to her partner as Daddy was so disturbing, and caused me to nearly DNF at the beginning of the book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Infertility, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual violence, Blood, Stalking, and Death of parent

TW: Religious trauma