Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Pisces by Melissa Broder

23 reviews

alex_wordweaver's review against another edition

sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I didn't really enjoy this book at all. I first picked it up because I found it on a list of queer books. It definitely had some queer undertones, but the MC Lucy's voice/internal monologue and her actions to deal with her problems just grated on me so much. I think the only person (creature?) I kind of liked was Theo the merman and Dominic the dog. Dominic also deserved better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Excrement, Cannibalism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

bold's review

dark tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Minor: Death of parent

feralbookwife's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

3.75

A very weird book that I very much enjoyed. If you wanted to like the Midnight Library but didn’t, this is a cheeky look at the Void and what we do to cope. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

froggoz13's review against another edition

dark

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

1.0

Really bad in my opinion. Bad writing, bad story, bad characters. The main character Lucy is a really bad person and the rest of the story doesn't redeem that. The disgusting details of her life weren't funny to me so I did not enjoy reading any of the book. Many parts were absurd and the dialogue was simple so ut was quite easy and quick to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Self harm, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Stalking and Abortion

r_o_s_e's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Blood, Car accident, and Suicide attempt

michelleka's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Infidelity, Mental illness, and Death of parent

not_another_ana's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I had felt, for a long time, that if I started crying I would not stop—that if I finally ripped, there would be nothing to stop my guts from falling out. I was scared of what might come out of me: the things I would see, what others would see. I was scared the feelings would eat me.

The explosive end of a long term relationship has left Lucy depressed, with a restraining order, and court ordered therapy. Fleeing the desert for sunny California, on her sister's insistence, all she has to do is attend group therapy, housesit, take care of Dominic, the sweetest little dog, and perhaps work on her thesis on Sappho. But healing isn't easy, specially when you don't believe you're the problem, and it's easy to get distracted. Things get out of control when a mysterious surfer with a secret catches Lucy's obsessive attention, sending her on a different path altogether.

The summary calls this "a story about falling in obsessive love with a merman" but that's not what this is really about. This is sad girl lit fic. It's navel gazey, it's existential. You either get it or you don't, there's no inbetween. Did I like this? Did I enjoy this? I'm not sure, but I can't say I hated it. Lucy is a difficult character. She's unlikeable, on a downwards spiral, but this condition makes her able to see the world in a different way and to probe at the status quo. Through her exaggeration of reality shine little pearls of wisdom and reflections about life. Mostly this book, to me, showed that recovery isn't lineal. It's hard work, and it's normal to backslide and crash and burn.

The merman bit was interesting but I would have liked it to go farther.

Listen I'm not saying that I wanted the fish dick to be wilder but that's exactly what I'm saying.

This book does deal with a lot of ugly and bizarre sexual situation that might make your face scrunch up. It also has a loooot of trigger warnings, so be careful.

TW: suicide, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, animal abuse, and the dog does die :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Suicide attempt

siriface's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body shaming, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Relapse, Menstruation

rgrgrg's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

lyshbish's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad 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

1.5

started getting more and more furious as it became evident that

the dog was going to die...

Lucy is by far the most unlikable protagonist I've ever read. I think that was the point, but it was still grating that she never seemed to learn from any of her mistakes. I wish she

drowned

at the end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Death of parent