Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

13 reviews

kathleendayle's review

dark sad slow-paced

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

1.5

In concept, SUCH a fascinating idea. In execution, poorly done. The story felt disjointed, and characters inadequately developed. Because there wasn’t enough differentiation in characters’ voices, I found it difficult to keep all the names and relationships straight. The plot twist felt like it came out of absolutely nowhere (but not in a good way). I wanted to like this book, wanted it to be a novel exploration of race and colorism entwined with a modern retelling of a classic fairy tale, but mostly I just felt confused the whole way through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Racism, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Domestic abuse, Transphobia, Deadnaming, and Rape

lynssss's review

emotional mysterious relaxing slow-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

3.5

Listened to the audiobook which made it enjoyable to listen to the narrators' voices and accents. But as the book and it's parts are written in first person the accents really stay with the characters who are "narrating" their parts and don't deviate. I enjoyed the end of the book when there are a lot of characters converging in one scene but there was little payoff after these scenes and the action fell rapidly after this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Hate crime, and Mental illness

Minor: Rape and Lesbophobia

kenrya's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

The writing is great, but this felt unfinished. Loose ends abound and the choice of narrator for what this story ended up being was poor, to say the least. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Racism, Rape, Death, Child abuse, Classism, Deadnaming, Sexual assault, Violence, Abortion, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Physical abuse

txikimandy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.75

This novel is incredible. The pacing is very interesting and the ending feels like the climax, which is a unique structure that I really enjoyed. It was a challenging read and I really enjoyed puzzling out meaning in various areas. The character arcs are interesting because of the large time jump between parts one and two, but I appreciated the care put into shaping each character across that jump.

I love magical realism and this novel was amazing at it. It was accepted that there was something weird about mirrors, as the synopsis on the back alludes to, but the characters accepted that weirdness as their normal. The concept of the mirrors in this novel is incredible and all I want is to know more about Oyeyemi’s vision for the novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Abortion, Animal cruelty, and Transphobia

hardbackednooks's review

The flap/description of this book ruined the "big reveal" of the first half of the book and the character dynamics made me wildly uncomfortable, which I think was intentional. I just couldn't stand to read more of it. Also saw in some spoilered reviews that one of the characters is later revealed to be trans and their story and transness in general is handled very poorly. Glad I didn't finish it, honestly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Racism, Physical abuse, Animal death, and Transphobia

sadie26w's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.5

This book ends very poorly

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Lesbophobia

Minor: Addiction

spinesinaline's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, and Torture

Minor: Abortion

eviecate's review

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

1.5

God, i am so frustrated and disappointed by this book. The first half of the novel was beautifully written and made me excited for the rest of the story. Unfortunately the rest of the book just fell flat. None of the characters got the development they deserved and the plot had no climax. I was not invested in any of the characters and I feel cheated by the second half of the book. 

The transgender plot line that was introduced in the last 3 chapters of the book was absolutely unnecessary, offensive, and had no impact on the story at all. The narrative explanation for Frank’s transition honesty made me incredibly angry. i don’t understand why it was included in the first place and how this anti-trans “plot twist” found itself in this book that was not at all about queer issues whatsoever.

The ending was such a non-ending that it ruined the entire book for me. I am disappointed by the author and am unable to recommend this book to anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Racism, and Racial slurs

keenanmaree's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, and Transphobia

aseel_reads's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

i 👏🏼 do 👏🏼 not 👏🏼 understand 👏🏼

this is the second book I have read by this author and I am marginally less confused with this than the other (gingerbread) 

what I actually liked (or respect) was the writing. it felt quite fairytale in that I don't really understand the purpose of the story at all. it was enticing and I kept wanting to read it. however, I felt like bad things were written in a way that made them feel less bad, so I kept waiting for the real bad point to happen (the other shoe to drop), and it never really happened... 

i liked the inclusion of colourism but I really did not understand the father plot... and the characters were one dimensional (??) flat (??), i don't know how to explain it, they just didn't feel real (again like a fairytale). 

definitely wouldn't recommend, for the triggers and confusion 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Abortion, Bullying, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Transphobia