Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

39 reviews

owenwilsonbaby's review

dark emotional funny mysterious slow-paced

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

4.25

"She'd pass a flooring place and imagine her life selling carpet. She'd pass a beauty salon and imagine her life doing hair. Mostly she tried to imagine contentment: the state of being content. She didn't think it was something she'd ever been before, so it was difficult for her to accurately imagine how it might feel. But she did try."

I loved this! The last 600 page novel I read was Dune and in some ways that felt like such a slog in comparison to this. I occasionally had issues - pauses that lasted too long, issues with the pacing - especially when the beginning and middle felt like they were building to something that wasn't quite carried to fruition by the culmination of Alex and Libby's plot and the modern Hollywood plot. The tone at the start was also interesting to adjust to, with a very camp Gothic element - often an interesting shift when the narrator themselves is a bit of an all-knowing, anonymous character (and frequently reminds the reader of this).

That said, all of these are minor quibbles in an otherwise fun and absorbing take on queer horror. Danforth has a brilliant grasp on when to employ terror and when to employ horror. The novel has lots of potential themes but ultimately seems to be about the dangers of spectacle, not unlike my other horror favourite of this year, Jordan Peele's Nope. I also loved Harper, Audrey and Merritt's characters, who are all complex and three-dimensional. Merritt was especially interesting and accurate as a survivor of bereavement by suicide, and someone who came to writing and success young and is now floundering in her 20s. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Mental illness, Grief, Animal death, Homophobia, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Moderate: Suicide, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Fatphobia

kharlan3's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Bullying, Gaslighting, and Gore

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Yellow jackets feature heavily in the horror

pineneedles's review

dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child death, Gore, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide, Vomit, Rape, and Homophobia

Minor: Forced institutionalization

bedtimesandbooks's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide, Child death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Murder, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Sexual assault

bookburdy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Sapphic, gothic horror with dark academia vibes. 
Pros

• The narrator was my favorite (hilarious and talking to you specifically) I recommend the audiobook! 
• I enjoyed the creepy crawly bits (the yellow jackets)
• Loved the atmosphere and the writing
• I liked the multiple points of view. 

Cons

• It was trying to be too many things. 
• the ending was so boring.. nothing even happened??
• Too long for no reason. 
• No diversity (barely any POC)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, and Suicide

Minor: Drug use, Lesbophobia, Sexism, Homophobia, and Vomit

aseel_reads's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

I absolutely adored the narrative style, having it break the fourth wall was super engaging. I liked the switch between the two time periods and having a mix of horror and the occult in it. I really enjoyed the rawness of the characters, especially merit and I liked how queer the book was. I think the ending could have had a more shocking event, which would have tied the story more holistically.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Infidelity, Murder, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Violence

laura_crowther's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative lighthearted mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Sexual assault and Vomit

jacemchale's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I really didn't expect to enjoy this book so much when I started it but now I think a piece of me will hold onto the story and all of it's characters.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Sexual content, and Drug use

Minor: Cursing, Dementia, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Alcoholism, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Murder

somelibrarychick's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Child death, Drug use, and Death

Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, and Grief

snowydaze's review

dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Death

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Drug use, Grief, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit