Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

28 reviews

oliverreeds's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

amazing. im crying. at first i was like eh and then i picked it up again and kept going this time and realized how wonderful it is. cheesiness be damned. let adult books be hopeful

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

camille_farrar's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity and Death of parent

askirmishofwit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This book felt like what would happen if Dead Like Me and The Good Place were mixed together and then served with a side-order of sentimentality. Which is to say I really loved it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Terminal illness, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, and Infidelity

kbairbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-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

5.0

This was everything.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

jamiebrito's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful relaxing sad fast-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Death of parent

batwinggoth's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

The book has a slow start, but the delivery of main character's struggles and inner monologue are written whimsically and humorous which is a great balance to the dark and heavy themes of the novel. The characters are all written well with great detail to each. The story's narrative is well encompassing of both predictable story progression and the pleasantly unexpected that pull you even deeper into the story being told.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Self harm, Car accident, and Sexual harassment

The book is centered around dead people and meeting people from all walks of life as they die in various ways - understanding and helping them process their dead and pass. Most characters are complicated and real with great detail of their emotions, feelings, and inner dialogue and they process their life and what happened to them or what they're currently going through. There's a child

who died from terminal illness whose mother is actively grieving and constantly visiting the tea shop (central setting of the book).

There's a character who we meet who was

murdered in an ally who recounts his death and expresses his extreme anger drastically.

There's a character who was bullied and emotionally abused

by his parents and experiences a sudden loss of his partner in the hospital and ends up dying by suicide due to his overwhelming grief.

The main character begins as an extremely toxic, workaholic and overall extremely bitter man who had been once married to a woman, the both of whom where extremely toxic and gaslighting towards each other in the end. The sexual harassment

is only in reference to a man and a woman who visit their tea shop often and constantly hits on Hugo in inappropriate ways and in one instance the man even says he'll 'wear him down' despite Hugo already rejecting him multiple times.

The animal death

is only mentioned because a main character, Apollo, is a ghost dog who had passed.

I may have missed other important instances of tagged content, but hopefully this helps give folks a better idea about the themes who need it to determine whether reading the book is right for them. I'd say while it's not impossible to skip past some graphic subjects, death and grief are unavoidable and I would suggest you not read the book if you are actively in mourning yourself unless you find reading about other people's grief and experiences cathartic in processing your own grief.

voilajean's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity

hannahrogers's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Car accident, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity, Medical content, and Alcohol

fern_gulley's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Animal death, Infidelity, and Panic attacks/disorders

micklesreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

Delightful. It's basically the same premise as Klune's other work, tbh: emotionally closed off man goes to a far away place, meets people who will change him, knows he can't stay. 

Everyone is incredibly good, of course. But it's still just a lovely book, and the ruminations on death and the afterlife are hopeful and healing. I loved it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail