Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

4 reviews

anracli's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The book is quite long and repetitive, much, I suppose, like a cave. It took a while for anything to really happen, and by the time that point came around, I didn't really care for either of the characters. The back and forth wasn't particularly enjoyable, and the ending wasn't particularly satisfying.

I almost certainly won't reread this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

spaghettii's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

The ending was an interesting choice

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

shiny_'s review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

1.25

This really didn't do it for me. It started out with tons of potential, but then seemed content to settle into a very repetitive structure of bickering dialog and sump diving scenes that blurred together into a muddy, poorly described silt out. 

It tried to tease out its most interesting questions until answering them in extremely flat and unsatisfactory ways. The romantic elements have potential at first, but

their relationship dynamic never truly evolves beyond a toxic, back and forth blame game and gives no indication this has changed by the end

.

The most horrifying about things this book were the maturity level of the characters, the continuous bad decision making that stemmed from that, and the absurd gaslighting they put each other through. These are, ostensibly, two professional women in their 20s -

one of whom has been running and innovating a massive business for a decade at this point

- but they act like angsty teens plucked straight out of a YA novel.

It's not a complete wash up, and I'm sure lands better with some people than it did me. But it's far from the same league as The Martian or Annihilation, like the description implies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

fictionalportal's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

Coming back to add to this review almost eight months after reading the book because I still think about this story. It's an absolutely haunting meditation on grief and the havoc it can wreak on the human psyche. Safe to say I never left the cave besties <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis