Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

This is Where We Talk Things Out by Caitlin Marceau

31 reviews

hardella's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Okay so I loved this misery-esque thriller. I read it on a plane ride and it had be hooked the whole time. As someone who has worked in the anti-violence field with a focus on family violence it hit hard and nothing was surprising. 
My biggest issue with this book is the ending.

I get the goal was to be dark and mysterious. And I’m not mad at that. BUT when the main character is a good person experiencing trauma, I want a happy(at least happyish) ending. For example, the ending of Get Out is still wild and tense but the main character “wins” as he should. I wanted this for Miller too. Too many victim-survivors of domestic violence do not get a safe ending especially queer folks. I wanted to see Miller’s fiancée save her in the end.

Otherwise I think this was a great novella and the author did a fantastic job of writing a realistic and tense story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Violence, and Death of parent

vixenreader's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Note to self: listen to your gut instinct and never get into a car with your emotionally-abusive relatives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Cursing, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Gore, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Body shaming, Confinement, Grief, and Torture

Moderate: Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Violence, Lesbophobia, and Sexism

Minor: Car accident and Infertility

Be warned, there is a dead body, controlling parental behaviour, dysfunctional familial relationships, and broken limbs.

mfrisk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

This book is an incredibly tense and stressful deep dive into a toxic mother/daughter relationship with a story that references Misery, The Shining, and Psycho. As many have noted there are two major twists and I did see one of them coming but wasn’t clear how the ending would sort out. As depressing as it is though it seemed fitting that that is what we are building to.

I really enjoyed this short novella read and would highly recommend it to those who are looking for something dark and psychological. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Body shaming, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Murder, Blood, Lesbophobia, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, and Body horror

theliteraryhooker's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

4.5

A quick, deeply unsettling read. The atmosphere is incredibly claustrophobic and the events feel frighteningly plausible. It definitely packs quite the punch for such a short novella! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Lesbophobia, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

cursivewolf's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Violence, Gaslighting, Car accident, Body shaming, Confinement, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

toofondofbooks_'s review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.5

This was delightfully spooky and made me feel just as trapped and confined as anyone would be in a cabin during a snowstorm. I love horror that plays with family dynamics and this really delivered. I do feel like I have some questions that didn't quite get answered that are nagging at me, and I feel that they could've been answered if this were a full length novel or even if there was an extra 20 pages, so that's what keeps me from rating it higher. overall a good time though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Medical trauma, Body shaming, Cursing, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse

loveitall's review

dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Fatphobia

jj_tj's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Homophobia and Death of parent

Minor: Car accident, Mental illness, Blood, and Body shaming

aas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Cursing, Dementia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Car accident, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Abandonment, Body shaming, Bullying, and Death of parent

kstericker's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Blood, Death of parent, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Gaslighting, Gore, Physical abuse, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

Minor: Dementia, Terminal illness, Cursing, and Stalking