Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

156 reviews

muireebrown's review

challenging dark emotional tense fast-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? No

4.75

This book was an existential thriller with compelling characters, themes, and plot points. Even though it’s a pretty hopeless story, I enjoyed it quite a bit. If you read this after watching the movie adaptation like I did, you will still find a lot of interesting moments. There are a few moments where the shifting perspectives and tenses feel a bit odd, but overall I enjoyed the writing style of this story. One of the best books I’ve read this year. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Pandemic/Epidemic, Self harm, Violence, Death, and Child death

shay_starlessxsea's review

challenging dark mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

Re-read. Really enjoyed the first half of the book, but lost momentum in the 2nd half. Felt like the author built up all of the tension and then didn't really know what to do with it so settled on the most 'horrific' thing they could think of for shock value. I did enjoy split viewpoints and unreliable narrators.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Homophobia, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Death, and Confinement

pkc's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I went into this looking for spooks and tension. While I found an embarrassment of tense riches, I didn’t get spooks so much as existential philosophical horror. Brutal, bloody, barbaric and sad, this was maybe too much for me, purely because of the questions raised and feelings produced. I enjoyed it overall and the middle was so strong, but by the end I wanted it to finish. My misgivings are driven by my own tastes - otherwise, really enjoyable and I see why people love this so much!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Violence

jessy4550's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

I liked the book, but I do wish the ending was a little longer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Child death, Self harm, Death, Gaslighting, and Gore

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, Physical abuse, Suicide, Kidnapping, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

di_the_reader's review

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Child death, Vomit, and Gun violence

spinesofsam's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Death, and Violence

friskreads's review

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Horror type fiction is definitely out of my comfort zone, but this one was well-written and used gore sparingly to advance the narrative. It is chilling in its quiet, slowness and quite different to anything I've read before. I liked the author's end notes explaining his literary 'easter eggs' (although I didn't pick any while reading) and his inspiration which gave the story some more meaning and context to the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Suicide, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Vomit, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

jackbifrost's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Homophobia, Violence, Grief, Hate crime, Blood, Suicide, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Vomit, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Suicidal thoughts

james1star's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.5

This started started out really intriguing and had a lot of potential but definitely fell flat as the book developed in my opinion. I won’t mention any of the real plot other then we follow eleven-year-old Wen as she’s outside a cabin in the middle of nowhere, New Hampshire when the seemingly friendly Leonard approaches her. Before long he and three fellow ‘companions’ make their true intentions known causing Wen to retreat into the cabin to her dads (YES it’s a gay family!) Eric and Andrew. When ensues is (taken from the BorrowBox blurb because I can be arsed) ‘an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are entwined.’ I kind of agree with this but also I just couldn’t connect with the story, understand what was happening, properly get the messages/possible allegories, etc. on the whole there were just too many things that just didn’t sit right with me in terms of the plot or what the book was trying to do/say and in the end had no real lasting impact. 

The saving grace was the tormented family of adoptee Wen and husbands Eric and Andrew. I really enjoyed seeing a gay family being included in a horror/thriller type book where I feel the genre does maybe lack as much representation (or at least I’ve not explored it all that much to witness it) so it was refreshing to see. Tremblay also doesn’t exactly make their queerness the focus or a pivotal plot point in the book, it’s just a thriller that just so happens to include two gay characters and I loved that - why I rounded up instead of down (on goodreads). 

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Amy Landon and honestly I wouldn’t recommend this. It’s clear enough but just wasn’t the most pleasant experience. I didn’t particularly like the way she read out parts said by males (which is a large chunk of the book) and on the whole was quite meh. Maybe I’d have preferred the book had I read it physically and took my time with it but alas I didn’t so yhh… not for me but others may enjoy it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Gun violence, and Death

Minor: Murder, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Gore, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Cursing

fin_pilot's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Child death, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Suicidal thoughts