Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Penpal by Dathan Auerbach

18 reviews

purplepickle's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Death, Blood, Grief, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death and Sexual assault

hue's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad

3.0

A bit predictable and slightly overdramatic at times. The dragging on of certain sentences to "build tension" (I'm assuming) was just annoying. Come to the point.

Otherwise it was an interesting story, and though it jumped a bit strange at times I liked that it was him looking back at his childhood and how strange things then seemed even stranger now. I'd say it's still more sad than it is scary, but I enjoyed it regardless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, and Murder

limina's review

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

 This book is a slow burn, so be patient. It was originally serialized on the Reddit forum r/nosleep, which lends to the narrative feeling different than average, mainstream published books. I originally listened to this on the NoSleep podcast, so it was interesting to revisit the story in a different format. 
 This story does the backwards-forwards in time format, which at times I did find hard to follow; I think it feels what way because it was originally serialized. Each chapter is likely each entry in the series. The story itself mostly covers the narrator's childhood and unsettling things that happened to him. I will say that I found adding content warnings to this, so I'll throw in an obscured description. All in all, be patient. The end is stomach churning and breathtaking.
 

The main character is stalked by an unknown man for a number of years. It is understood that the man is a pedophile but no sexual acts ever take place. All the same, it's very upsetting, especially when all is revealed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, and Murder

Minor: Bullying and Grief

sp00ky_girl28's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I really enjoyed this book! Such a gutwrenching read that made me feel so disturbed and angry. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep for a while 😅

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Stalking

Moderate: Animal death, Dementia, and Kidnapping

Minor: Bullying, Pedophilia, and Murder

samantha914's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Grief, and Car accident

Minor: Bullying and Fatphobia

amandalove2bme's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

marslotus's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Dathan Auerbach has such a masterful handle on suspense and mystery, I was on the edge of my seat for the entirety of this read. I remember first listening to this years ago, back when it was a creepypasta YouTubers made into online audioreads and I'm so happy to return to it as an adult knowing it's just as creepy and engaging as I found it was when I was a kid. Even in moments where you can guess ahead of the narration what the horrifying reveal of each chapter will be, it still feels so earned and equally as terrifying. My only complaint is that it's not longer!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Stalking, and Car accident

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Blood

hailey_horror's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

bashsbooks's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

What an eerie book. I was not expecting a horror that could, more or less, be real. I liked that aspect of it. I think that the jumping around in the timeline mostly works, but the sections where

the main character spent time with Veronica and then she died, felt kind of random and disjointed compared to the rest of the story. I know it was to reconnect him to Josh but I just felt like she appeared out of nowhere just to die.

That said, I really enjoyed most of this book, and while I feel like I guessed a lot of what was going to happen, that didn't really ruin the experience of watching the mystery unfold. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, and Cursing

maniacjac's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Dementia, and Grief

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Blood, and Kidnapping