Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn

11 reviews

nefariousbee's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective tense 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

5.0

this was such a surprise. I picked it almost randomly for a reading challenge and it grabbed me by the heart and squeezed until my chest hurt before I could realize what was happening.
I ugly cried. I relate to Patsy and Cicely's story and seeing the culmination broke something in me. my heart doesn't let go either. and this was a very painful reminder of that.
above all, this books is so honest about so many *ugly* things. the reality of being undocumented, the illusion of ingrained motherhood, the social pressure on queerness. I appreciate the book for all of that so much.
it's not an easy read, but it's one that stays with you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Pedophilia, Blood, Racial slurs, Transphobia, Abandonment, Classism, Death, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Sexual content

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Deportation, Drug use, Gun violence, and Police brutality

thelaurasaurus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

Following the story of Patsy, an undocumented immigrant in New York, and her daughter, Tru, left with her father and his wife in Jamaica, this book isn’t an easy read but it is an engaging one. It shows life in all it’s messiness. 

 

I enjoyed the way in which the story developed, with snippets of backstory being shared every now and then, adding a completely different element to something which I thought I had understood. Because of this, I found that my feelings about Patsy and her behaviour changed as the book progressed. 

 

Another thing which I appreciated was the depth of most of the characters - with a couple of exceptions (maybe just one), I don’t think any of them can be considered entirely good or entirely bad. Some of them do terrible things, but also have redeeming qualities. 

 

The book raised a lot of questions for me about the immigrant (and specifically undocumented immigrant) life and status. I think this was exacerbated by Cicely’s character feeling underdeveloped for me. We very rarely hear her voice, so most of what we learn is through what Patsy reads into a situation. It’s clear what Patsy expected to happen when she got to the US, but what did Cicely think was going to happen? In a book which ties most things up quite neatly at the end (which I loved), I didn’t ever feel like I got closure on this. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Pregnancy and Miscarriage

klawrence1206's review

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-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? Yes

2.0

The content was interesting and very thought provoking. The author has a beautiful style to her writing. But for me, parts were disjointed and jumped around between places and points in time. Her editors did an injustice to this book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Lesbophobia, Infertility, Hate crime, Death of parent, Self harm, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Classism, Sexual content, Rape, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, and Child death

yuyuv's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Biphobia

bluberrybooks's review

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

Moderate: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, and Child abuse

Minor: Animal death and Miscarriage

zombiezami's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

Evocative, but haunting

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual assault, Racism, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Abandonment, Violence, and Misogyny

Moderate: Classism, Pregnancy, Cursing, Death, Outing, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Miscarriage

Minor: Gun violence, Police brutality, Colonisation, Vomit, Excrement, Abortion, Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Animal death

Colorism, Gentrification

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

knkoch's review

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

This was a really tough read for me. The characters endure some deep hardships, and I had a hard time getting through parts of this. It’s important to bear witness, and I’m certainly privileged to merely read about these experiences of immigration, poverty, and depression rather than directly live much of what these characters go through.

There’s a well-observed beauty in the author’s descriptions of both Jamaica and Brooklyn, but some relationships were very hard to read about, particularly the maternal ones. There’s a brutality there that makes it hard to imagine rereading this one. But the romantic relationships are elegant and visceral, and the ending wrapped things up in an unexpectedly satisfying way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Physical abuse

rachaeldamms's review

challenging emotional 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: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, and Self harm

msennflinn's review

challenging reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, and Physical abuse