Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

21 reviews

jve's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-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

2.75

To be honest, I thought The Girl on the Train was over-hyped and this novel felt similar. I found it tedious to read over and over again how much her female MCs are stuck in self-pity.
Having each character narrate their own chapters made the story especially confusing in the beginning, when you had no idea who they were. It was too many voices trying to tell the story. The ending also was not surprising. The whole book just fell flat for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Rape, and Suicide

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

em_gauts's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cursing, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

cozybritt's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This is a dollar coaster of a mystery/thriller. One of those where you don't know what's real or true till the very end. It was very good! But could also be very triggering. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

cassiereadsbooks_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

This book took the “thrill” out of “thriller” 😅 

There’s wayyy too many POVs (11 different characters PLUS alternating timelines plus a manuscript??). I love switching POVs but this was too much to the point that there’s too many plot points (which apparently not all of them get solved in the end), and I can’t connect with a single person.

This book could use a HEAVY round of edits/cuts to focus on a few things, it tried to do way too much and I simply was not interested. I couldn’t keep up with everyone and the POVs switched too quickly and too often for me to understand any of what was going on.

I loved Girl on the Train, didn’t love or hate Slow Fire Burning, and so after DNFing this I think Hawkins was just a one hit author for me and I won’t read anymore from her 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Toxic relationship

mr_cain's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.75

I only docked .25 of a star because the pacing was so slow in the exposition. I understand she's establishing a whole host of characters and I do appreciate it, but it's a book you have to power through the first part of. 

This book genuinely kept me guessing. I did suspect the real culprit several times, but I waffled often. Hawkins does a great job supplying motive and details for each of the suspects without it feeling like a painfully deliberate red herring. 

Hawkins also makes the characters each their own and her style is distinct for each chapter in a different POV (i.e. Helen, Jules, + Sean's chapters all feel genuine vs. the same style with different names as many POV switching books seem to do). She provides a cast of characters who are complex and feel so real. Not every character is deeply complicated but they all have their own established psyches which I loved. 

I can easily call myself a Paula Hawkins fan after this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood

Minor: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, and Vomit

rhaselpaq's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Rape, Suicide, Death of parent, and Murder

millenialbookworm's review against another edition

emotional tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Murder

bluejeepbaby's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Fatphobia, Rape, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, and Lesbophobia

hkhowell's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I love the format of this book! There were so many characters and they all had their own POV chapters which added to the mystery in a compelling way. I would have liked to read more about the drownings before Lauren/seen their connection a little more obviously. I also would have loved to learn more about the main characters back story - we don't know anything about her before Nel's death. I get why she didn't want to go back to where she grew up but I would have liked to know what all she was leaving behind to do so.

I liked this one way more than the girl on the train. Ultimately the reading experience was more enjoyable than the actual story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder