Reviews with content warning for Eating disorder - How to Kill Your Family

Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

95 reviews

aschmitttyy's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I picked this book up on a whim from the bookshelf of the Airbnb I was staying at the time. Had no idea what I was walking into and was immediately hooked (it helped that I had a few long train rides where I needed to pass the time). It was witty, entertaining, and creative, unlike any book I have read before. Not saying that I liked the main character, or supported her mission or the reason behind it, but I sure did enjoyed reading about it.

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the_bookish_owl's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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izzyheal's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

2.25

This was a chore to get through - the story had promise and I was gripped at points but the charm eventually wore off.

- The main character was insufferable (I know she wasn’t meant to be likeable), her rants became tedious and annoying instead of cool and insightful, and when a character was introduced in the last few chapters who was equally rambling I could not care.
- The ‘class’ commentary was surface level
- The final act ‘twist’ was frustrating and immersion-breaking
- The formatting and chronology was all over the place I felt lost and was often checking to see how many pages I had left.
- I did quite like the murder chapters, they felt like the most thought out sections but I hated the jumping around when

Caro

was introduced - also I feel like I missed something cos

how did Bryony die???

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thebookaddict's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense fast-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? No

4.0

Dit boek was niet wat ik had verwacht. Je leest het verhaal van Grace en hoe zij haar moorden heeft gepleegd en hoe ze uiteindelijk in de gevangenis beland. Ik vond het jammer dat je al wist dat ze al deze moorden gepleegd had, zo ging er toch iets van verhaallijn verloren. De moorden zelf waren heel goed uitgedacht en origineel. Ik heb ook nog niet eerder zoiets gelezen. Het is eng om te bedenken dat zoiets uit het brein van een auteur komt, de moorden paste zo goed bij de slachtoffers. De manier van schrijven was echt alsof je het dagboek las van iemand. Wel vond ik dat het einde nog ietsjes langer had gekund. Ik had haar reactie op "de brief" wel willen lezen en ik had willen weten hoe haar leven was na de gevangenis. De brief op het einde was ook een mooi origineel plot dat precies hij het verhaal paste. De puzzelstukjes vielen op hun plaats.

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jasmine_23's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Listening to it, the story felt repetitive and very much just society bashing. The only reason I've given 3 stars is that the ending was interesting, but overall, I wouldn't recommend it

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_mininbooks_'s review against another edition

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dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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perfectionism's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious medium-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

4.0

The ending left me angry. I felt like there was some great injustice and i don’t know whether that means the ending was good or bad in a literature sense but i think it had a certain irony to it as well.

Revenge driven girl works her entire life to make father pay for abandoning her mother by killing off whole family only for the final blow being committed by an unknown half brother who blackmails her into letting him keep the inheritance all while claiming they’ve both won.

What a certainly sad and realistic ending to a bizarre story.

Grace said things sometimes that made me make a face and i think that’s precisely why i liked her character. Her thoughts about men, women, her self awareness about her certain biases, obsessions but then the lack of awareness about other parts of herself felt so realistic in a real person way. I really did feel like i was hearing the recount of a story from a real woman. She was unlikeable at times. To be honest, nearly all the characters were. But with her and

her brother

i could always see a greater reasoning behind their actions that made some sort of sense.

I feel a sort of frustration or unfinished feeling towards this book but i don’t actually dislike this book. It was entertaining on a surface level and touched on ideas about women’s place in society that were surprisingly interesting amid the tiny bits of self aware internalised misogyny. It all just feels a little ironic, a little funny, a little dark. Fun book.

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