Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn

7 reviews

on_a_journey's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed this novel. It was a great depiction of how migrating to another country is different for everyone and also how the struggles are similar for people who may have good or decent standing in their previous countries cross over the ocean and just have to make a way possible. Also the quote that depicts this exploration is, the grass is always greener on the other side. The stories presented in this book about the various people that migrated (though the main story is about Patsy) was well thought out. I enjoyed the setting of the times in both Jamaica and America, it was a walk back in recent history. However, I struggled with the child abandonment portion of the story because though Patsy had her reasons I still struggled with understanding why she didn't try to contact Tru for so many years. Also, to make it worse someone had to come into her life to give her a nudge to face her fear and contact her only child. I do agree with previous reviewers that the ending seemed very rushed and I would like to see more about Patsy and Tru rekindling their relationship and not just hear the letter that was written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, and Grief

radfordmanor's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Lesbophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Murder, Rape, Abortion, Body shaming, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Blood, Addiction, Pedophilia, Racism, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Death, Homophobia, Self harm, and Sexual assault

annaledbetter's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Rape, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Bullying

ab_and_flow's review

challenging emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Abandonment, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Death, Racism, and Rape

bookishandlegal's review

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This is a beautifully written, character driven story about a woman immigrating to the US from Jamaica and the daughter she leaves behind. There is really great, but also somewhat subtle, LGBT rep. The descriptions from both Patsy and Tru of depression are so good and relatable. Even though I don’t have anywhere near the same struggles as either of these characters, the descriptions of darkness hovering over your shoulder and the actions/feelings that come along with it really hit home for me. 

This was a slow paced, primarily character driven story. I usually love character driven stories but parts of this one really dragged for me and it was hard to get into. I think I was in a weird headspace and had I read this at a different time it would have been an easy 5 stars for me. But I found the beginning half of the book really slow and I was finding myself sloughing through it and forcing myself to read it. The chapters generally got shorter after the first third or so of the book and that definitely helped me feel like I was reading faster. The switching perspectives between Patsy and Tru (US and Jamaica) also worked really well and kept the story engaging. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this one and would definitely recommend it! Especially for fans of character driven, slower plot stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Body shaming, Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Sexual content

lonelytourist's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

too close? too far? i imagine that reading this book is the literary equivalent of a vivisection, but i would recommend it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual violence, and Self harm

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

kaleidoscope_heart's review

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Suicide

Minor: Transphobia, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Physical abuse