Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Bird Box - Schließe deine Augen by Josh Malerman

38 reviews

brooke_pearson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is written so beautifully!! From his wonderful description (other than the people's appe rances, I'll admit those weren't awesome) to how well he blended the past and present together in this book, Malerman has to be one of my new favorite authors. I can't wait to read the sequel and any other books he has in store.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Vomit, Stalking, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol

This might technically count as a spoiler, but I'm really just using this as a trigger/content warning. Pages 180-184 have a dog going crazy and killing itself, and while Malorie can't see it, the sounds are descriptive and you may need to skip it if that's not something you can handle (I personally could barely do it). If you do decide to skip this chapter, here's a happier version of what happens so you don't miss out on anything:

Malorie paints the windows of Cheryl's car black and, using a map and the cars odometer, she eventually finds her way to the bar (with a lot of trial and error). While Victor, sadly, saw one of the /things/, she is able to take some supplies like microphones and likely some speakers off of the bars stage and take them back to the car. She then returns home and is able to use those things for the security system.

hellokatya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

i will admit, i watched the movie long before i ever considered reading the book, but i’m really glad i did.
i do wish that the story had been told in chronological order, but i can understand why it was told in two timelines. 
i thoroughly enjoyed how ominous and claustrophobic the book felt. it was truly unnerving and addictive. it was hard to put down once i got into it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Self harm, Violence, Blood, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Confinement and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Grief, Car accident, and Abandonment

jasminechocklettslee's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Child death and Blood

Minor: Animal death, Excrement, and Vomit

bearystarry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

So glad this ended the way it did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

kaitieg97's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A very interesting story, it was eerie and intense.

I really like Malorie and I wish things turned out happier for her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Gore, and Suicide

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Vomit

kirstenpod_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Child death, Vomit, and Death of parent

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

This really had me on the edge of my seat, and it's so courageous that someone thought to make a movie about a book where everyone is covering their eyes! Very creepy. I did wonder about some of the pregnancy-related facts though. Those bits seemed less plausible. Definitely extremely heckin gory though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Excrement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

Minor: Child abuse, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

faithharsh's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, and Pregnancy

chezler24's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Bird Box was a thrilling read. After finishing The Day of the Triffids, it was interesting to read another book where the loss of sight plays a part in the apocalyptic scenario at hand. Bird Box plays out a bit more intimately than the book I just compared it to. It focuses on Malorie, a woman who discovers that she is pregnant while these unusual, gruesome scenarios are popping up all over the globe. There is no hope for military intervention and Malorie has a small pool of characters she interacts with throughout her journey. The story is told where each chapter shifts back and forth on Malorie's timeline between the onset of the apocalypse where she is carrying the child and trying to find her way to a safe house nearby to the present scenario four years later where she is caring for hers and another woman's child (referred to as Boy and Girl throughout the majority of the events). The author handled this chronological back and forth well so the reader was never completely out of the loop or bored with understanding how things would come about in the flashback scenes. The book is a bit gruesome; however, it is a unique sort of horror because all of the scenes are either dictated from the point of view of someone who is only hearing and smelling what is going on or from the aftermath of a scene left behind ages ago. The absence of the character's sight does not hamper the reader's ability to experience what is going on in the scenes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Moderate: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Grief

k8lynn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book was amazing, I loved the interweaving timeline and the storytelling throughout the entire novel. Everything came to a head within the last 60 pages and I couldn't stop reading. A great thriller. Some scenes are a bit gory,

including a descriptive dog death, suicidal tendencies, violence, and dark themes.

Definitely recommend to horror fans!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail