Reviews tagging 'Death'

Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls

20 reviews

jlfields925's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Grief, Domestic abuse, Car accident, and Child death

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

2.5

I did not like this. Deeply unsatisfying read. I don’t usually rate books based on plot/ending alone, but man was that so little payoff for a seemingly interesting premise.

I liked that in the end Larry was too other, too non-human to continue functioning as Dorothy’s escape or to truly care about human life. I love when authors depict the realistic divide between humanoids; other beings have no reason to talk, think, or act like we do given their separate evolutionary path. I also liked the prose; the sentences were so crisp and concise. It felt like snack reading.

That being said, -2 stars for:
- the sheer amount of fucking salad and veggie descriptions 
- the sometimes hard to keep track of quippy dialogue between Dorothy and Estelle
- the car crash… what an unnecessarily messy conclusion to a whimper of a set of affairs
- Could Sandra have been his kid??????? GROSS
- Estelle also fucking Dorothy’s husband. her knowing who the man was and not telling Dorothy was enough of a betrayal to warrant the silly ending. The rest felt contrived 
- Dorothy finally being free of her cheating, unsupportive husband and perfidious bff, only to be miserable at home looking for a froggy fling that isn’t coming back. she has a lot to work on internally, but the book ended with her not even trying. just going through the same motions.

idk this just wasn’t my cup of tea. i got to the last page and audibly scoffed. what was the point in all that retrospection on humanity and friendship and love just to end the book sad & yearning for a frog in between haunting your uncaught sex offender husbands grave. ugh

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Death and Child abuse

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Torture

another_dahlia's review against another edition

mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Death, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Murder, Torture, Violence, and Miscarriage

toyin_'s review against another edition

lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

It was another women x monster book that was really about the trappings of domesticity and womanhood.

Kinda bleak ending, compared to rest of the book. 

We need an edition with the weird sex she should be having with toned and tall frog man. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Car accident

Moderate: Misogyny, Violence, and Rape

melodyriggs's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense fast-paced

3.0

 This was a weird one, but at the heart of the absurd story of a woman recovering from tragedy falling in love with a frogman, is the story of wanting to be loved. Mr. Caliban is dealing with their personal tragedies by having affairs. Mrs. Caliban is just sad, until an amphibious man shows up in her kitchen after escaping from an institute. They begin affair with her hiding the frog man in the guest bedroom until it no longer becomes safe for the frog man to stay there. On the whole, it's good writing, just a weird story. Not sure if this would be a good one for seniors in AP or not (I've been reading short novels to kind of look at whether or not they would be good ones to add in for juniors and seniors whose class loads don't provide a lot of time for reading but want good literature). 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death

kananineko's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity

Moderate: Miscarriage and Xenophobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Violence, Car accident, Death, Sexual assault, and Torture

mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Car accident, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Violence

ottercorg's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

I picked this one up after seeing it in an article, recommended to those who enjoyed Where the Wild Things Are as a child. It was my favorite, so naturally I wanted to give this one a shot. 

This was easy, funny, and pleasant. I loved the conversations, particularly between Dorothy and Estelle - they felt so natural and real, as if I was right there in the room with them. 

I enjoyed Ingalls’ writing style, and enjoyed the plot. The only reason I’m not giving it a full 5 stars is because the ending was SO fast I nearly got whiplash and it was almost hard to follow. The pace suits the events of the ending, but still, I would’ve appreciated a little more. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child death, and Murder

thequeenofsheba3's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Violence and Death

nialiversuch's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Addiction, Child death, Car accident, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Grief, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Miscarriage, Murder, Violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual content