Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Mit år med ro og hvile by Harvey Macaulay, Louise Ardenfelt Ravnild, Juliane Wammen, Ottessa Moshfegh

20 reviews

redefiningrachel's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body horror, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Abortion

Minor: Rape, Blood, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

reneeandreea's review against another edition

dark 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

2.75

Honestly, I don’t get the hype. The best parts were the

“Infermiterol” experiment and the visit to Reva’s family home.

This was fully sitting at 3 stars until the very end. I think Moshfegh ruined it all in the last page. Nothing negative to be said for the quality of writing. This was just boring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content, Abortion, and Pregnancy

jo_lzr's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

Minor: Racism and Abortion

lunsbooks's review against another edition

dark funny reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

Moderate: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Blood, and Vomit

taylorroseship's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

bloohoney's review against another edition

dark funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

She is an asshole that you feel relatable to, well...for me she is, let's be honest, the idea of sleeping for a year on not worrying sounds amazing
Then we have Reva, that you also can feel relatable to, once again, for me, and you get hurt by her story and hate how badly the main character speaks of her

Over all, i loved the book, even tho I despise her. I gave it a .5 because the ending wasn't what I was hoping for or expecting,

like the whole book deals with heavy subjects in a detached way but in the end it's like "wow, life is amazing, yeah, after a whole year drugged up i didn't develops an addiction even tho I threatened my best friend tho kill her bc she cares about me and took my pills away once....at least I think she did, i don't know, maybe i willingly gave them to her while I was out of it, hehe. So yeah, oh look the people in the park are so happy, I'm also happy, i magically have my shit together".......like wtf

so yeah, that's it, highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, and Classism

samarakroeger's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

1.5

let the record show that I HATED this book.  And I generally like plotless books about sad, somewhat unlikeable women in their 20s...

This book was such a slog to get through, especially the middle.  It truly put me to sleep better than any of the myriad of sleeping pills featured in (and weirdly endorsed by) this book and put me in a reading slump.  

I got the sense that Ottessa Moshfegh was trying to make this book as provocative as possible (which it definitely was, I just don't really vibe with that approach).  The casual racism, ableism, sexism, and homophobia served no purpose except to solidify my intense dislike for both Moshfegh and our vile, unfeeling narrator.  I've never read a book before where I hated every single character with every fiber of my being.  Reva did deserve a better friend despite her personal flaws.

The reason I gave this 1.5 stars instead of 1 is because Dr. Tuttle is so ridiculous and unhinged she became funny to me - i.e. "I've heard from several esteemed colleagues in Brazil that regular Infermiterol use can activate a profound tectonic displacement.  Followed up with some filigree work using low doses of aspirin and astral projecting, it's proven to be quite effective in curing solipsistic terror...".  After slogging through the 70 page middle chapter (ugh), the last two real chapters (can't count that cheap last paragraph) were alright (in comparison).

This was so incredibly privileged and pretentious and filled with so many triggers for mental illness I have no idea why people liked this book.  I was even more disappointed in this book due to all the positive hype I'd seen about it, so I'd definitely recommend reading the trigger warnings and thinking about why you want to read this absurd, pointless book before you pick it up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Excrement, Antisemitism, Medical content, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Abortion and Pregnancy

burnyayhayley's review against another edition

dark funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

 I have... a lot of feelings to process. 

A consistent piece of feedback I am seeing in reviews of this book is about how the middle of it dragged, and I totally agree. Though it is easily arguable— given the focus of this book— that a human attempting to hibernate would eventually become a bit of a repetitive and tedious narrative to recount. It was bound to drag a little; what do you say about someone sleeping all the time?

Another thing I have seen in reviews is a statement that the ending is too rushed, but I beg to differ. The ending is differently paced, yes, and faster than the middle, for sure, but this reminded me of the feeling of waking up from a nap and there is still a whole afternoon and evening ahead of you and you kind of feel like everything is moving too fast. That head-rush of the waking world I think was mirrored in this last bit of the book, and to great effect. It fits, for me, that after this long spent drugging herself and sleeping on a couch (or wherever she was), everything would seem fast and bright and weird. 

Also, given that this book is set in 2000/2001, I was definitely waiting for the 9/11 moment, and given that we were told two of the people in the unnamed protagonist's life were working in the towers, the ending was not a total surprise. But I do give large credit to the beauty and slight obscurity of the very last image. Absolutely stunning.

Ok but also how did I only just realize that the protagonist doesn't have a name? That is usually something I would notice—makes it all the more unsettling, as it easily pulls the reader into her position. 
Anyway, this book is darkly funny but also mildly upsetting, so please check the content warnings before venturing in. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Moderate: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and War

shreyshrey's review against another edition

dark funny sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Abortion

bibilde's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship