Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

33 reviews

cassie7e's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

So. Many. Layers!
Also now I need more suspense stories wirh the cat as a POV character!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Murder, and Abandonment

kshertz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

I don’t really know what to even rate this book. Or what I read. Or if I liked it. The book is one big mind fuck. You can never guess what’s going to happen. Then you’re mad about all the tricks the author is playing on you. But you’re kind of like, “yeah that was a good one.” So who knows? Try it out if you want something unlike anything else you’ve read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

wackly93's review

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury

honeywine's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

boxofcats's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Violence

mlewis's review against another edition

I want to come back to this later to write it up more completely, but the short answer is that I grew impatient with the narrators

being clearly a single entity with disassociative identity disorder</>, despite their richness overall. I felt less propelled as the story progressed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Self harm, and Vomit

Minor: Fatphobia and Classism

ekmook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

mommarex1221's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

At 25%, I considered DNFing... but I stuck it out. Halfway through, I was finally starting to come around. Pieces of the story were falling into place and the more of the picture I saw the more and more I was blown away. If there's anything that intrigues you about this, please read on. I promise the pay off is worth it. 
I knew from the first few chapters that what Ward had created was masterfully written, even if I questioned what exactly it was that I was reading. This book will stick with me. 
Triggers galore. Explore at your own risk, some may be considered spoilers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

plauer's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

rorikae's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

'The Last House on Needless Street' by Catriona Ward is a mystery thriller chock full of twists and turns that kept me hooked. 
The story centers on the titular house and its inhabitants, which include a man dealing with flashbacks to his past, a young girl who rides around on her bike, and a cat that reads the Bible. A neighbor moves in trying to solve a years old mystery that she thinks those in the house may be involved in. The more that the story pries into the mystery at its heart, the more the expected story begins to unravel. 
Ward does an exceptional job of building expectations and then slowly unwinding them. Every time that I thought that I understood exactly what was happening, further pieces began to be revealed that would turn my understanding on its head. This is an incredibly hard story due to the subject matter. There are strong content warnings for child abuse, murder, and mental illness. I encourage anyone interested in this book to look those up so that you will be prepared going in. 
One of the strongest parts of this story is how Ward creates complicated characters but makes you care deeply for them despite their flaws. Every character has their own issues that they are dealing with and Ward explores these in-depth. I think in another writer's hands this story could be very harmful but Ward does a great job of making these characters feel fully fleshed out. 
I will say that I expected this story to have more of a speculative slant than it does. In some stories, this may have dampened my experience but Ward did such a good job with the story that it was thoroughly enjoyable even though it was different than my expectations.
I am interested in what Ward will write next as I have a lot of confidence in her storytelling abilities.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis