Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

319 reviews

sammirosewater's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

If 6 stars were an option I would choose that. Wow I will be thinking about this book for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

parcoeur's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

The book is beautifully written with a strong rapport between nature and humanity. One cannot help but root for the main character, Kya, through all of her trials and tribulations. The reader is kept on the edge of their throughout the second half of the book and is stunned by the end of the story. Somehow, the ending provides closure and more questions, further cementing Kya as an enigma, the Marsh Girl. Where the Crawdads Sing puts a lesser-discussed part of the US on display with a cast of complex, human characters alongside the marsh at it story's core.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, and Death of parent

Minor: Terminal illness and War

hailey9972_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

Love, love, loved this book from start to finish. I seriously never wanted it to end and would’ve followed those characters through an entire series. The narrator did a great job as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Abandonment, and War

thequiltyreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I had put off reading this because I tend to be let down by the books that have a lot of hype around them, but this was an enjoyable read.

Slow start but picked up pace around half way through.  The author really brought out the pain caused by abandonment and also the prejudices Kya was subject to.

The connection Kya had with the natural world around her was lovely to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

jodar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The novel was an enjoyable and easy read. The MC, Kya, is engaging, albeit a bit unbelievable in terms of practical plausibility and psychology. The ending had a melodramatic twist to resolve the mystery – for a while before that I had up to four characters I had suspicions about. At least I was right about one of them!

The novel focuses quite a bit on the beauty of the natural world, which weaves in well with the plot line. I thought the pacing of the plot was good, though more use of foreshadowing would have worked more powerfully. Also, the musings by the MC on evolutionary biology and human behaviour struck me as quite reductionist, and seemed to be a way of explaining away the characters’ actions without psychological depth or ambiguity. The interweaved poetry occasionally worked well, but more often felt a bit jarring.

Overall, if you don’t expect too much, it is a great “airport read”.

CW: Extramarital sex.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Confinement, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

insideunder's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Death of parent, and War

kailiyahknight's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Blood

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Car accident, Death of parent, and War

arulow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Infidelity, and Murder

zoecaitart's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

yerfillag's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

The protagonist and setting draws you in from the very beginning and with short chapters it feels like a quick read. Although the story jumps back and forth between two different time periods it never felt confusing and got more and more suspensful when they started to connect. I had read somewhere that the author is a zoologist which is very apparent as a lot of the book focuses on describing the wildlife and fauna but it wasn't distracting but instead invited you into the point of view of the main character. While the overall pace felt rather slow it definitely picked up towards the end and while I was worried of being left with many questions, the last handful of pages answered a lot of them and left me just sitting in silence for a moment once I had finished the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment