Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Between by Tananarive Due

3 reviews

mar's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent, and Hate crime

Moderate: Infidelity, Child death, and Gun violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Sexual content, Animal death, Homophobia, and Terminal illness

virago's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Wow!  This was confusing, frustrating, and frightening all in the best way.  This was flawlessly written.  I was completely enveloped in this world.  

Eight-year-old Hilton James suffered from terrible nightmares after a near-death experience that claimed the life of his beloved Nana.  These dreams followed him into adulthood, disappearing briefly after therapy sessions, only to return when he had another near-death incident. The dreams were worse and began consuming his waking life.

His family (and Hilton) watched as he began to fall deeper into insanity from the lack of sleep and the visceral dreams.  Then he began to wonder if he was actually crazy.  Was he losing his mind?  Or, were his dreams real?

This was a beautifully crafted story story.  And while the book didn't scare the pants off me like I had hoped, it did; however, mess with my head. I am now leery of dreaming.  Well done, Ms. Due, well done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

seawarrior's review

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Dazzling with imagery and mystery, The Between presents a horror story on multiple fronts that keeps the reader disoriented with every chapter. Due's characters propel the plot, where their rich histories and personalities provide the necessary depth to pull us into their world. The most frightening part of this story is not so much what Hilton is experiencing supernaturally, but how he lacks the knowledge to make sense of it once he realizes that his family is under threat by a racist terrorist who is undoubtedly real. The secret of his dreams unravels slowly, but once revealed, the surrounding unexplainable events instantly line up into a rational narrative, which I appreciate as a reader who aches for stories to make sense.

I highly recommend this book to those interested in unconventional horror novels, but please be warned that the threat of racist violence hangs heavy over the James family throughout most of the book, and the verbal intimidations issued by the perpetrator are more than disturbing to read. If that's something you're able to stomach though, I imagine you will also become quickly engrossed in this story and Due's skill in writing it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Stalking, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Medical content

Minor: Homophobia