Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

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

1236 reviews

rey_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.5

complicated!

darkly funny. often horrible and repulsive. consistently absurd.

if you need to be able to like characters in the books you read, or believe that they are morally redeemable to enjoy a piece of writing, this isn’t for you.
you can make an argument for all of these characters being “bad people”. they aren’t nice. but they all contain this kernel of real, raw and horrible human nature. sometimes it reflects back at you.  it’s brilliant. it’s funny!

sure, i can see the argument that a lot of this book hangs on character stereotypes. i don’t think this necessarily detracts from it. if you don’t like them - congrats! isn’t that part of the point?

before reading i saw a review that said it negatively impacted their own mental health - and yeah, i probably should have paid more attention to that.
potential detrimental effects on my own wellbeing aside i really did love it. i appreciated the looming spectre of 9/11. and i really do think that the final chapters - the end of ch 7 & 8 - were beautiful. i think Moshfegh just managed to tip the ending away from trite, but it was walking a bit of a tightrope and some really slight changes to any of it - the writing, the characters, the “emotional journey” would have absolutely upset that balance for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Eating disorder

Moderate: Abortion and Death of parent

thychronicreader's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-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

3.0

What was that? why does nobody talk about that ending? ahhhhhhh? I shouldn't have read this in public, if you take anything from me let it be that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content

jeninthebooks08'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

2.0

This was frankly quite underwhelming.
While I like the idea of depression metaphorically explored in prose, this book almost made ME depressed with the repetitions in plot. And, whether or not the intention was to prove how unlikeable the MC was, the use of the r-slur (about someone autistic) could've been left out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Eating disorder

Moderate: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

faephoenix's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

5.0

Repulsive narrator. Refreshing prose. Read this book if you’re slightly misanthropic and need to feel better about yourself as a human. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual assault

jackiestbr's review against another edition

reflective tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Death and Death of parent

cheyison's review against another edition

dark fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Self harm, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Abortion

teaqueen's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.5

This book was agonising to read. I put it down and often it was a struggle to pick back up (took me 4.5 months to finish 😂). I get it was supposed to be slow. I can handle the LONG ASS chapters. I get the main character is supposed to be unlikable. I don't have to like her. But it was mostly boring. Ffs from around the halfway point I was SKIMMING the pages!! I really wanted to see what happened at the end, I had an inkling of where it would end and I was right. It was interesting reading references to the year 2000, kind of cool tbh.

I liked the character development from the cave saga to rejoining the world.

The last line would have worked better if she wasn't "diving into the unknown", because she wasn't. She knew what she was heading towards.

Apart from the boredom and subpar attempt at depth, the character's backstory didn't really grip me, there was nothing relatable and all the talk about medicines in American brands made me lose interest so fast. I don't care what youre taking hun, I have no idea wtf you're talking about. Also, doing a bit much with all the meds and shit. 

I would have liked to have known what happened next, for..... Whatever her name is. Lol I thought I blocked it out but just realised her name was never given, that's a nice touch but the story needed more to back up the impact of it.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Eating disorder

marissanbullis's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism and Abortion

todrick_the_tree's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Vomit, Medical content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Confinement, and Suicide

ams5x9's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad 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

2.5

This was hard to get through…The main character is pretty miserable. The last 1% of the book had the smallest redemption/semblance of humanity. And holy depression (pills) and drug use, Batman! This book had more normal, everyday villains than any other book that comes to mind. An interesting look into the mind of a brain I’m very glad not to inhabit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol