Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

32 reviews

blouviere4's review against another edition

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

danirc_'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

beautiful prose backed by a plot of self destruction 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Alcohol

Minor: Medical content

layton93's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

amlee9001's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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

4.5

I loved this book, which seems almost slice-of-life to me, but I know that's just how character-driven stories always seem to me.  Astrid is both condemnable and loveable, she's everything a teenage girl hates in herself and everything that a girl coming-of-age is.  I also think it's a great look into the underbelly of the foster care system and a very good argument for foster care reform, at least when you strip back the drama of fiction.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Racism, and Death of parent

This book was a wild ride with a lot coming at you all the time, the content is heavy, but it's worth a read if you are able to read it.

lmshearer's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

The language of this book is alluring, but the plot and its characters became more and more tedious as the story went along. Editing it down by 100 pages would have helped pace the book as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence

possiblymaybe's review against another edition

sad

• Loveable characters? No

the beginning of this novel raised my hopes, i was really expecting a great read. then the story continued and was just irritating. if it was edited to half the length and actually given a decent development and ending to the story, it would be a good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

minalinalu's review

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.5

If I am honest, this was the most energy draining book I ever read. Not spesificly because of the writing style or the amount of pages (even if both of it was also challenging), it was mostly a very tiring read because of its slowness. The slowness of character actions that as they were over still seemed like they never changed the story, the slowness of devolpment that I only seemed to really notice at the very beginning and the very end, as if there was nothing but void between those two points.
I wouldn't recomend this book because for me it never seemed to give the reader anything but a challenging read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Self harm, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Vomit

gabriellamichalek's review

challenging inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Abandonment

holly_mc's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Racial slurs, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity

avispa_nightriver's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

Minor: Child abuse and Schizophrenia/Psychosis