Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne

14 reviews

hannah_mck's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Abandonment, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

emlibe's review against another edition

emotional funny sad 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Kidnapping, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking

Minor: Pedophilia and Police brutality

fed's review

dark emotional funny informative reflective tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Bullying, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

fromthekiwigirl35's review

This had so much happen within those 55 pages. Too violent, too much intense situations. Graphic. Not an enjoyable read.
Couldn't find the joy in reading such content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Abortion, Sexual assault, Incest, Misogyny, Violence, Rape, Racial slurs, Death, Homophobia, and Pregnancy

savheath's review

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Cursing, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Violence, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Incest, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Grief, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Hate crime

ae_world's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.75

“It's as if she understood completely the condition of loneliness and how it undermines us all, forcing us to make choices that we know are wrong for us.” Cyril as narrator about Alice

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Murder, Emotional abuse, Violence, Pregnancy, Outing, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Hate crime, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Kidnapping

caties_books's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Phenomenal! I never knew 900 pages could go so fast 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Infidelity, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Classism, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Blood, Chronic illness, Sexual violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Racial slurs

lovelymisanthrope's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I picked this book up as a buddy read with a friend.
"The Heart's Invisible Furies" follows Cyril throughout his life. He was adopted by a wealthy family when he was a baby, but his adoptive father made it very clear that Cyril is not a real Avery. Being adopted at such a young age, being held at an arm's length by his adoptive parents, and going through adolescence just trying to uncover who he is all together made Cyril really struggle with his identity. This book is an exploration of self and what it means to be home.
This book was heartbreaking, devastating, and provided amazing content for discussion. Cyril had a challenging life of never really fitting in, and to top it all off, he discovers he is gay. Being gay in Ireland in the 1940s was not acceptable and being openly gay invited unwanted violence. Cyril tried to repress who he was for so long because he knew how dangerous it was, which is so devastating, but provides important historical context for gay history. This was a very real fear for many individuals until more recently, but even in today's world, there are places where it is not safe to be openly gay. Though this is a huge part of Cyril's identity, I really enjoyed that this was not the only element of identity explored in the novel.
Cyril is not the perfect character, he makes mistakes and hurts people throughout his life, but he does have a good heart and he tries to make the best decisions he can. He is almost painfully average, which makes him so relatable.
This book is ambitious with trying to cover a character's entire life, but I think it is executed beautifully. It did take me a little while to get into the story and really enjoy Cyril as a character. But, once I was invested in Cyril, I did not want to put this book down.
This book does explore some very heavy topics, so I do not recommend it for everyone, but it is a stunning novel and if you feel compelled, I do encourage you to read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Grief, Blood, Misogyny, Infidelity, Death of parent, Violence, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Death, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

peanutparker's review

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Misogyny, Death, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Murder, War, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Cancer, Dementia, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Violence, Blood, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Kidnapping

moettel98's review

challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Amazing read, probably one of my top 5 books of all time I absolutely loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Violence