Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Animal by Lisa Taddeo

31 reviews

carojust's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is the perfection I needed -- what "The Guest," "Fruit of the Dead," "My Year of Rest and Relaxation," "Eileen" and "Boy Parts" couldn't deliver, what "Rouge" came close to. 

The destructive pretty girl plot has been overdone and exhausted, insultingly predictable, but Lisa Taddeo shows that it can be thrilling, done with power, nuance and poignancy. The pacing of this book needs to be studied, it's art.

You start with the idea that this book is about a vile woman, and then you see it's really about vile men, and as you shakily come closer to the truth, you realize this has always been about mothers and daughters. This is a love story to women, to see our pain and our strength, to realize how much of our self-hatred is from women hatred, to understand that the minute we are born, we are bloody prey, we are subjugated and destroyed, and we are connected more than we know. 

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kaylac4's review against another edition

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

3.5


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touyuujx's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Loved!! But also kinda disliked reading this book! 

I pretty much blind brought this book after a recommendation from my local book guy, and I have to say this is right up my alley!

Joan was unhinged and so weird. This book was bleak and dreadful and weird but so funny and real, i have to say it was almost perfect

I was promised murder and a disturbing read and that's exactly what i got but
the first actual murder, i think, didn't happen until chapter 32/37, and it wasn't even done by her!! Thankfully, her murder happened shortly after.
this book has also been an incredibly slow read, and im not usually a fan of those but Joan (and of course Taddeo's writing) was so gripping i couldn't stop reading. I adored the way occasionally she talks to "us" very unsettling in the beginning but i will die for a good second pov book

Also?? Talk about being such a huge tease? I generally felt like cuck reading this from the way she kept teasing that she'll murder someone but doesn't actually so it. Tf. So relatable tho!!

Apart from the pregnancy and the whole motherhood thing, this book would've been a perfect and solid 5 star read 

Overall, I'm sorta but also really happy to have read this book!

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ktwoolen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved this story but as a mother I was so triggered and disturbed by so much of the dialog and imagery. Truly a heartbreaking read for me. A lot of reviews said it’s about how being in your 30s can make you want to kill- but to me it was about how parent trauma and send you on a spiral of self degradation, and how being treated like you’re disposable by everyone that’s ever come into your life can make you want to kill. 

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clairebartholomew549's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I don't know how to feel about this book. I resonated with a lot of its themes and assertions about the ceaseless violence men commit against women and the ways our entire inner lives are shaped by the men we're exposed to, and I appreciated Joan's unabashed commitment to voicing the darkest parts of herself. But I found the plot kind of tiring, definitely disturbing, and vaguely performative; it felt a little redundant of other books I've read like it before, like The Girls and Bright Young Women, and it was not an enjoyable read.

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hanltosh's review against another edition

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

3.0


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addythebookbat's review against another edition

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slow-paced

4.0


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imogenimi's review against another edition

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

3.5

I enjoy dark books but this was a bit much even for me at points. I flittered between being really engrossed and needing long breaks because I just wasn’t getting any pleasure at all from reading. Not necessarily a bad thing.

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katienunnery's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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tristapruridge's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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