Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Mad Honey by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Jodi Picoult

137 reviews

emilytrnr's review

challenging emotional reflective tense 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

3.75

I went into this totally blind, and I enjoyed it (as much as the topics can be enjoyed). It was a pretty intense read and a lot of emotions swirled around in there. I thought the dual POV worked well to tell the story, and it didn’t come off like a co-authored book. I empathized with just about everyone.

While I was surprised by

Lily being trans

I found the “twist”

of Maya being in love with Asher/guilty of the crime

more predictable than I prefer. I also felt some of the backgrounds of the characters were heavy-handed or overdone. It could’ve been a bit shorter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Violence and Suicide attempt

sllumbar's review

emotional informative reflective sad 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? No

4.75

Themes all linked together seamlessly. Easy to read and follow. Good perspective from the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Transphobia and Violence

Minor: Bullying

bgunther's review

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective tense 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? Yes

5.0

I loved this book and the journey it took me on. It kept me guessing until the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Domestic abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

kshertz's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Wow. I came in not knowing at all what this book was about and I’m glad. The mystery surrounding a young girls death and if her boyfriend at the time did it. The perspectives of the mother of the boyfriend and the girl are so real. The authors note is very touching. If you’re an abolitionist like me though, the themes of police and Justice are a little hard to take. The ruining of multiple lives through the system at the end is rough so the conclusion was slightly disappointing to me. But still totally worth a read. One of the best books I’ve read in a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Murder, Self harm, Body shaming, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Bullying, Outing, Transphobia, and Violence

fanchera's review

emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Violence, Child death, Domestic abuse, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Physical abuse, Self harm, Gun violence, and Death

anarmandameg's review

dark sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Self harm, Child abuse, Murder, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Violence, Misogyny, Bullying, Outing, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death, Transphobia, and Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying, Transphobia, Sexual content, Sexism, Confinement, Mental illness, Death of parent, Blood, Child abuse, Outing, Cursing, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Abortion, Confinement, Pregnancy, Mass/school shootings, Toxic friendship, Car accident, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Alcohol, Deadnaming, and Animal death

irisandfoxglove's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was a beautiful, heart wrenching book. I thought the way the chapters were set up was so well thought out and poignant, especially with the epigraph at the beginning. I’d recommend people check the content warnings first before reading.

I loved the moments we got of Ava.

Her planning and forethought for the picnic wrecked me, it was so sweet.

For what we found out about the “day of” by the end of the book,

man, fucking Maya. Based on her telling, it was clearly an accident. Why didn’t she call 911? Or come clean? If I was Asher, I would never forgive her for that. But, I accept her actions as believable. And I’m glad we got to know what happened. I also so fell for Dirk as a red herring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Bullying, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Minor: Sexual harassment

The transphobia is not endorsed by the main characters of this book and is thoroughly dismantled. The suicidal attempt describes the method factually, and the emotions graphically, but only describes the set up in detail and not the actual attempt.

the method involved blades, and the character describes several times being triggered by knives and blades elsewhere in the story

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roccosmama21's review

emotional informative reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Domestic abuse, and Transphobia

sjbryson's review against another edition

dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Abortion, and Child abuse

squarahreads's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

can’t decide on a rating for this one!! not sure how I feel about the story and why it was told in the way it was told... a lot going on. too much about the bees for my personal taste lol as much as I love honey

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Child death, Violence, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Abortion and Transphobia