Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon

11 reviews

bookishrona's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

carojust's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This is a trippy story based on Persephone, Demeter and Hades -- an aimless teenage daughter caught in a billionaire's hell, while her mother dissolves, not knowing where she's gone, searching for her along the northeastern coast. 

I think there's only so many storylines about extremely beautiful, self-destructive blond waifs that I can take. If "The Guest" by Emma Cline and "My Year of Rest and Relaxation" by Ottessa Moshfegh are your faves, you'll absolutely love "Fruit of the Dead" -- it's formulaic and frenzied, the same drug haze and unconsenting / triggering scenes, the body odor and broken faces combined with "but she's still so pretty, prettier in fact," the trail of gross men who erode innocence, etc. A yacht girl, sugar daddy tale of caution. What anchors this book's plot, and differentiates it from the aforementioned titles, is the deep dive into a mother's complicated relationship with her daughter, and the desperation and sacrifice that come with that version of love. That perspective resonated with me, and I think helped this plot move along. The end is hurried and attempts to paint the mother as a hero, but falls flat for me, and misses an opportunity to build further on the tragedy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

e11en's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Pedophilia and Blood

aseel_reads's review

challenging dark reflective 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

3.75

If it wasn't for the annoying flowery/lyrical/purple prose x 1000 writing style, this would have been an interesting reflection on mother-daughter relationship. I just couldn't stand the writing style. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sakeriver's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-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

5.0

There is a lot in this book about addiction, obsession, money, patriarchy, rape culture, and the tension between parents and children. That latter is what hit me the most, and the final line was just chilling. I think this is Rachel Lyon’s best work yet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Self harm

Moderate: Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

kds247's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

This is such a beautiful book. The text is almost like poetry and the two voices for both the mother and daughter are incredibly distinctive. I loved both of their voices more than I have in any other book. Now with that I would want to point out the content warning of rape and abuse. It is very much a factor that drives this book, and if it is a trigger for you do not read it. It was a very dark read but one of the most profound books I’ve read in a while. Specifically surrounding the themes of being a woman in all of its gorgeous and grotesque ways.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Death

megnut's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

An emotionally painful read. (As someone else put it: this was a story of trauma and control.)

The story was well done... but I don't feel comfortable recommending it. 

Cory's story made me heart hurt so much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Drug use

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Death, Sexism, and Sexual content

maddiejane18's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

btaylorb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

 I feel like there are a lot of recent retellings of the Persephone mythos that glorify her relationship with Hades as a romantic one, and this book stands out from that crowd as one that focuses on the mother-daughter relationship of Demeter and Persephone. 

The complicated mother-daughter dynamic goes hard. The shifting POVs of first-person past tense for Emer (i.e., Demeter) and a third-person present tense for Cory, (Persephone) is jarring at first but also is really successful at illuminating the differing levels of vocal power versus embodied presence in their narratives. Emer uses her own voice to narrate her story but she's reflecting on her actions from after the fact with an oftentimes detached outlook. Meanwhile Cory is denied her own voice for her own story, with a narration style that almost seems to float above her like an astral projection observing the actions of its living body, and yet her sensory experiences are immediate, in the moment and intense.

Poetic, lush, but also gritty and gray. Check your content warnings, but also: The potentially triggering scenes are handled with care and skillful language. Because we know the story, we know what to expect to a certain degree, and the difficult to read parts are not there for fun, or for edginess. This version of the Persephone story highlights some of its darkest parts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

There are two instances of sexual assault. One occurs at the beginning, but it is an antecedent event that is more implied than described outright, and the focus is less on the assault and more on the moment when Cory tells her mother and how her mother reacts. It's meant to establish some of the complexity of the mother/daughter relationship in how the mother fails to aid her daughter. The second instance receives slightly more descriptive attention, but it's brief and, for anyone familiar with the source material, it should not be totally unexpected. It was still difficult to read. It's the one part of the book that I have complicated feelings over; it's definitely not written to be sexy or titillating in any way.

gondorgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism