Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Du bout des doigts by Sarah Waters

18 reviews

runefactories's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

The first two parts were great and the story is well-written, but the third part dragged and I didn’t like the ending. I think this book would have benefitted from being significantly shorter. I watched The Handmaiden before reading this and strongly prefer its ending and third part compared to the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide

clovelatte's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

naiu_cs's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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

3.5

It was quite exciting, even though it sometimes seemed to be dragged on for longer than was really necessary for the plot or the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, Torture, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

jenwool's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

The use of unreliable first-person narrator is masterful. The narration builds the story in a way that draws you in and paints a raw picture of the setting of London, and out in the country where the middle portion takes place. In spite of myself I was strung along for the ride, brought to each emotion that Waters intended me to feel as I went along. In spite of myself and my first impressions of them, I fell in love with both Susan and Maud.

The twists were crafted beautifully, with enough poeticism and foreshadowing that an attentive reader could catch on, but several of them took me by surprise even still.

Spoilers in the Content Warnings but very serious Content Warnings for this book, please take heed.

CW for child abuse, animal abuse, violence against women, the treatment of mental illness in victorian england, casual racism against rromani, and the implication of sexual thoughts about young girls. There is not any actual sexual assault, but it is very creepy. All of these save for the use of g**** referring to rromani are treated as the horrible things they are by the narrative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Violence, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Racial slurs and Sexual harassment

4ntula's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty

elinthenilsson's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cursing, Mental illness, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

emfass's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Religious bigotry

sofipitch's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I watched the Handmaiden (2016) first and so I thought I knew the plot going into this book. But nope, I was still enraptured with this book and was shocked by all the twists and turns it took.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty and Racial slurs