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Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Animal by Lisa Taddeo

198 reviews

ev23's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-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? Yes

3.0

taddeo’s prose is beautiful and punchy but this story was so disjointed to me and definitely lagged in some parts. i think a lot of it read as kind of trauma porn almost ? definitely check the TWs. i guess i understand the hype around this book but it just did not land for me. 
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jesssicawho'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? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Sheesh. That was an emotionally exhausting book. The writing is brilliant, every single word feels intentional. There were so many sentences or paragraphs I highlighted as powerful insights. The story, however, is brutal. Uncomfortable, painful, infuriating. I am glad I read this so I can say I’ve experienced Taddeo’s prose but I’m not in a rush to read anything else from her. 
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kelssreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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flowerwineandbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

Unhinged characters, so much female rage, stream of consciousness. Best read in a short space of time. Incredibly challenging with poignant lines. 
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laurenhannah217's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

4.0

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annabel98's review against another edition

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dark sad fast-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

2.5

I couldn't put Animal down. If nothing else, it's gonna grip you. But it just didn't do it for me personally, I do think a lot of that is personal taste, I think the narrator is a little too unreliable, and the really fast paced, short sentences jumped around too much. It's definitely not predictable, but you can see the outline of what is going to be revealed, just not what exactly happened; I wanted either more mystery around Joans past, or more character development from her. 

Please, please read the content warnings, and understand they are very graphic. 
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deannelovesbooks's review against another edition

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

4.5

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mmccue1997's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

3.0

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kendoge's review against another edition

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

4.25

I loved this but holy hell was it tough to hear. I listened on audiobook and the narration was amazing. The prose was beautiful and incredibly well written but so difficult and heart wrenching. This gave me every emotion and thought I wanted Nightbitch to give me. The content warnings are as long as the book. 
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hannahblikestoread's review against another edition

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

4.0

For fans of: unlikeable FMCs, uncomfortable truths, women vs. the void, female rage, Otessa Moshfegh, Melissa Broder

CHECK CW for this one friends. ⚠️

My thoughts: This story was a gut punch. It was a very emotionally challenging read that I’m definitely going to need a palette cleansing (and maybe a brain bleaching) after but man, was it well done. The audio is great (hail queen Emma Roberts) but some of the things described in the story are very hard to listen to. I may have bawled in the car in my gym parking lot… CHECK TW friends. This gets HEAVY. This litfic borders on horror in parts. Some of the quotes in this were absolutely brilliant. I took off a star because I felt it was about 100 pages too long and took too long to get to the *meat* of the story but after it picked up, I could NOT put it down. This story addresses so many themes, namely how we are shaped by trauma and how prey can transform into predator in order to survive. The author also highlights animal instincts and how those live inside us. Overall, very insightful, evocative, and well written.

CW: miscarriage, rape, suicide, murder, violence, animal harm, every possible trigger
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