Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl

13 reviews

dana_444's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Sehr langsamer Anfang, Ende umso holpriger
Guter Plot

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Murder, Death, and Toxic friendship

lauren_shilling's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

This book was pretty much exactly what I wanted it to be! I was looking for a quick, easy-to-read mystery, and it definitely delivered! I love reading stories that follow families or friend groups that are sort of dysfunctional and toxic, and the friend group in this book was pretty much exactly what I was looking for. The vibes were really creepy and mysterious, and I had a lot of fun with this story. I will say, I think this book starts really well and ends very very well, but I found myself losing interest in some of the middle portions. The ending was really good though, and the twist was surprising to me. To break down each of the characters, I liked Kipling, but I found him to be the least interesting character in the end. This was disappointing to me, because I thought initially that I would really love him, but he ended up boring me a little bit. Martha was a very complex character, and I appreciated the twists and turns she caused throughout the entire story. I don't really have an opinion on Cannon at all, because he'd really only there for maybe 2/3rds of the book, and I just really could not get a read on who he was as a character. Whitley was really interesting to read, and I also liked her a good deal. Beatrice, the main character, was a good point of view for this story, but I wasn't all that interested in her as a person. One things about this book that really surprised me was the writing. I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. I thought some of the quotes about time and what it's like to be stuck in a weird wrinkle of it were actually really beautiful. Overall, I would recommend this for younger people or for someone of any age looking for a fun, quick mystery with unexpectedly beautiful writing!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, and Grief

Minor: Vomit and Blood

theliteraryhooker's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

Once again Marisha Pessl is out here making me wish the media that exists in her books existed for real!  Really enjoyed this one, found myself absolutely tearing through it which is nice considering my reading focus has been terrible lately. I wish the Jim mystery had been resolved in a different way, but otherwise really found this to be a real pageturner with excellent writing! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, Car accident, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Vomit and Toxic friendship

ro_lux's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Car accident

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Toxic friendship, and Suicide attempt

kriisesiv's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Police brutality, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Cursing, Violence, and Murder

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Death, Child abuse, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Drug use

klocek's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Gun violence

random19379's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Toxic friendship, Gore, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Vomit and Medical content

cosycourtney's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-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

4.5

Woweeeee I loved this book so much more than I thought I would! I didn’t know much about it going into it so my feelings could have gone either way. This book contains: great characters, a stellar mystery, great setting, complex plot and a comfortable execution of time travel. This book felt like watching a movie (perhaps because I listened to it) but it was so gripping and I was hanging on every word. We get to the meat of the story very quickly, the context is established straight away so you are fumbling around for it to make sense and there are clues all throughout (that are subtle and sneaky) so when you get to the end the reveal didn’t come out of no where. What an absolutely stellar book and I can’t wait to read more of Marisha Pessl’s books in the future! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Alcohol, and Toxic friendship

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Death, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug abuse, Ableism, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Blood, Child death, Cancer, and Medical content