Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls

10 reviews

applesodaperson's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective fast-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? Yes

4.25

This was definitely a weird book. It reminded me a lot of the Shape of Water, even though I've never even seen that movie. I was also a bit shocked at how old this book is, because I can totally see this having been written right now.
I really liked the fish guy actually. He had a very matter of fact personality, and was just the right amount of unexplained and mysterious. This book was also the perfect length and was better being a short book. The sort of ambiguous ending worked well too, because you never really find out if the fish guy

makes it back to his people. Also, it was absolutely wild that both the best friend and the best friend's daughter were having an ongoing affair with the main character's husband. I totally called that plot twist early on.

There were definitely a lot of themes around grief in this book. When it starts, the main character is grieving the death of her child, which is causing the gulf between her and her husband.

And then later, the fish guy kills the main character's best friend's son. And that brought up a really interesting ethical discussion about why the main character is treating the friend's son's death differently then if he was a stranger.

Overall, this book was really good and very surreal, but I feel like there was some larger metaphor that i was not understanding. Like the fish guy was supposed to symbolize something deeper, but I just either missed it or didn't have the media literacy skills to decipher it.
Listened to on Libby.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Child death and Violence

vexatiousbird's review against another edition

funny sad slow-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? No

3.0

It has a kind of understated charm - interesting to take a monster and deposit him into the most mundane domestic setting.
But it can also be a bit tedious reading through those mundane parts. It is also so understated that sometimes things don’t make a lot of sense, like why a housewife and a creature who walked into her house one day are suddenly making love without more than the tiniest hint of sexual tension leading up to it. There is also no detail at all for it, even any mention of how she feels about getting physical with a sea creature or cheating on her husband, it just says they make love and that’s that, moving on without comment.

It suddenly gets very exciting near the end, and then it’s just sad and a little confusing. Up til then it was very slow and I probably would have dropped it if it wasn’t so short.

I can sense some layers of meaning here that I don’t fully grasp, but I’m not intrigued enough to dig further into it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity

Moderate: Child death and Car accident

Minor: Violence

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

---

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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Car accident

Moderate: Misogyny, Violence, and Rape

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

---

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

---

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

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

---

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

---

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

randisworld's review against another edition

dark lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

This quick read really packs a punch! Rachel Ingalls really creates a perfect story in this really short gem of a book. What happens when an amphibian man walks into your kitchen one day? You fall in love with him. That’s all I will say. This book explores the flaws of people in a very interesting way. Give this a try! 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Violence

nellvin's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

Finished this in two days, delightful and surprising from start to finish. Cutting and hilarious social criticism packed into a sweet romantic tryst. Not exactly feel-good but definitely fun. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Miscarriage, Child death, Alcoholism, Violence, and Sexual violence