Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan

17 reviews

emilyorrwhat's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I absolutely loved this book. I couldn’t put it down! Read in a day because it was such a page turner. I love the author’s writing style and the way she built up the suspense while foreshadowing the events. Loved how unpredictable the story was, even with the flash forwards. 

Definitely worth the time I spent reading it, and will be reading more of Langan!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Violence, Child death, and Gun violence

a core topic in this book is one of the characters being falsely accused of pedophilia, so it is mentioned often, but it never actually occurs in the book.

sparkle_13's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, and Child death

savvylit's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

Good Neighbors is a tense blend of eco-thriller and suburban horror. What if your neighbors suddenly decided to hate you as a bitumen-spewing sinkhole opens up across the street from your home? Langan explores this question thoroughly, deftly portraying unsettling groupthink and ignored environmental disaster. The neighbors of this novel are genuinely terrifying in an all-too-real way due to their classist hive mind mentality. They make so many assumptions that ultimately cascade and escalate to the point of violence. Langan perfectly understands and reveals the covert hatred that is often seething just under the surface in so-called "good" American neighborhoods.

All that being said, the execution of the plot left me feeling a little hollow. I wanted to love this book for its social commentary. However, the format ultimately keeps it from feeling cohesive. Good Neighbors is interspersed with newspaper clippings from various retrospectives on the events at the heart of its plot. It would seem that these article snippets were included to maintain intrigue and drop clues. Really, though, the snippets took unnecessary focus away from the actual happenings in the plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence and Addiction

finleyfrogreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Incest, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Medical content, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Murder, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

Moderate: Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Blood, Cancer, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Emotional abuse

mkmcdonald's review

dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Drug use, and Rape

cursivewolf's review

dark emotional hopeful sad 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

While the writing was cheesy at times, it was a great read. The book made me so mad, but not in a bad way? It’s not a bad book, just upsetting. It breaks your heart. I liked the article clippings in between certain chapters, it added to the suspense at times. And it added a lot of context.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Ableism, and Addiction

Minor: Rape

bookbunny's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, and Violence

adventuresinpages's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Child death, and Animal death

Moderate: Murder, Ableism, Addiction, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault and Vomit

violetandirises's review

dark fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Violence, and Blood

jennivardier's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Violence