Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Penpal by Dathan Auerbach

24 reviews

lady_grey_with_honey's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This horror story is narrated by a young man who is reflecting back on many strange occurrences from his childhood. In each of the six chapters, he lays out some significant experience, based on what he remembers, starting in kindergarten and progressing through his teen years. These glimpses into his coming-of-age begin innocently - with a school project or an activity with a friend - and slowly ramp up to something terrifying, but inexplicable. He eventually enlists the help of his mother to piece it all together - the truth of what was really happening all those years is devastating. This story was originally released in sections on the r/nosleep forum on Reddit and adapted for The NoSleep Podcast. Fans loved it so much that the author launched an extremely successful Kickstarter to self-publish it as a novel in 2012. I loved it too and stayed up too late some nights because I couldn't put it down. The only reason that I didn't give this a full 5 stars was because the very end of the book became a bit confusing in a few ways. I finished in astonishment and then spent an hour on Reddit threads reading long discussions about the ending in order to make sure I wasn't missing something.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, and Grief

pryingblackbird's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

limina's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

 This book is a slow burn, so be patient. It was originally serialized on the Reddit forum r/nosleep, which lends to the narrative feeling different than average, mainstream published books. I originally listened to this on the NoSleep podcast, so it was interesting to revisit the story in a different format. 
 This story does the backwards-forwards in time format, which at times I did find hard to follow; I think it feels what way because it was originally serialized. Each chapter is likely each entry in the series. The story itself mostly covers the narrator's childhood and unsettling things that happened to him. I will say that I found adding content warnings to this, so I'll throw in an obscured description. All in all, be patient. The end is stomach churning and breathtaking.
 

The main character is stalked by an unknown man for a number of years. It is understood that the man is a pedophile but no sexual acts ever take place. All the same, it's very upsetting, especially when all is revealed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, and Murder

Minor: Bullying and Grief

laneychaney's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

So disappointing. Some parts were creepy but nothing scary. The writing was simple and easy to get through. I liked the idea of different memories/stories that tie together…but the end was so bad and rushed and made no sense. It was almost silly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Stalking

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

scumlow's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Car accident

Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

amandalove2bme's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

smileysam's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this book and tore through it in one sitting. I find it rare that I read something that makes me feel genuinely uneasy and this book conveyed that very well. The first chapter felt like a nightmare that the reader alongside the narrator couldn’t wake up from. There were many instances that gave me that stomach-dropping feeling (the Boxes chapter especially). I know some people complain that not every question is answered, but to me, that almost adds to the narrative and way the story is told throughout the book. I found that the themes of this book felt, unfortunately, very grounded in reality. This felt like a story that could happen, which made it all the more terrifying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Car accident

Moderate: Animal death and Pedophilia

Minor: Animal cruelty

poucks_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was absolutely a rollercoaster of a book and even though you can pretty much guess what is happening since the middle of the book, going through it and reading it as it happens makes it absolutely horrifying. 

There is one thing that really bothered me about this book though and I tried to go around it, but I couldn't at some times, but the things the MC did as a very young kid, were just not believable. A kid of 5 years old does not think or react as the kid in this book did and it made some things hard to receive in my mind.

But the story and the relationships and the ending were AMAZING! Great read non the less!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Stalking

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

lotstannard's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Dementia, Kidnapping, and Murder

pkatrinaanne's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder