Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

32 reviews

voicenextdoor's review

dark sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

j3rkin's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

4.0

Well that was sad

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship

j3rkin's review

emotional sad medium-paced

4.0

Well that was sad. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship

sdolanadamec's review

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

Challenging sexual content, but important to read when thinking about childhood trauma

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Suicide

nclausel25's review

challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abortion

octobah's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Grief, and Murder

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-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

5.0

A beautifully heartbreaking story. The writing was just exquisite, i could easily picture every scene and character with how poetically they were written. I really enjoyed this and can’t wait to watch the movie and compare them

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

krosebooks's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It took me a lot longer to finish this book. Not because it was bad, but because it was so much to digest. There are dark scenarios which I had to process. Good book but not an easy read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

kbecker813's review

dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Pedophilia

quinn24's review

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

Told from the POV of Astrid Magnussen, daughter of a manipulative poet who is imprisoned early in the story for the murder of an ex-lover. The story follows Astrid through her various foster homes for the next 6 years as she grows and tries to escape her mother’s grip. 
This book was written in such a beautiful way there were so so many quotes I underlined. There wasn’t really anything that I could  personally relate to but it almost felt like I understood at times. There were moments where it was kinda boring but that’s almost always how it is when a book follows someone’s life. The N-slur is used a couple times and while every time it is used it’s clear that it’s not a good thing to call someone (it’s used by a terrible, racist character) it’s obviously still not great for a white women to be writing it. Overall though it was really a fascinating meditation on a very complex mother-daughter relationship

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, Antisemitism, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Ableism