Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Betty by Tiffany McDaniel

61 reviews

josefina_na's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Grief, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Incest, Child abuse, Racism, Rape, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, and Drug abuse

pomoevareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? No

5.0

I am broken. This book tore me apart and took me 9 days to read as I could only manage small amounts at a time. With that said Betty is also written with such beauty.

Betty is born to a Cherokee father and a white mother and has many siblings. After the death of two of her siblings the family moves to Breathed, Ohio where they move into a house where bullet holes have penetrated many walls and the previous family disappeared without a trace. Her father Landon makes special teas and medicine for the community and they live a life just getting by. Landon shares Cherokee stories and culture with his family. Each of the children are washed in the river when they are born and given a special skill or interest. Nature forms a great part of family life and the daughters even make a stage of sorts where one of them acts, one of them sings and Betty is a writer who writes her stories there and puts them in jars and buries them. 

Each chapter begins with a verse from the bible which I found rather interesting given the family is not religious. It is clear that Christianity has informed them in their upbringing in ways but Landon also tells his children about how indigenous people were removed from their land by colonizers and how religion was forced upon them. 

This book is not for the faint of heart. Pretty much every trigger warning that exists happens in this book. I will try and capture them all on StoryGraph but know this going in. I was prepared for the human ones but not the animal ones. 

Having recently lost my father, the notes on grief, particularly at the end of the book left me bawling.  “No water is ever at rest” speaks to the grief of losing someone special to you. “The waters will never be still.”

Having previously loved On the Savage Side and now with this experience, I hope to pick up McDaniel’s earlier novel The Summer that Melted Everything. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Grief, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Incest, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Child death, Addiction, and Death of parent

callie_pearce's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Medical content, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Gore, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Infertility, Mental illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Infidelity, Fatphobia, Incest, Addiction, Classism, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Hate crime, and Lesbophobia

stefs1974's review

dark emotional sad fast-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

5.0

Betty is one of my all time favorite books!  Beautifully written, heart wrenching, and thought provoking.  This book will always hold a special place in my heart!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Grief, Death of parent, Classism, Racism, Addiction, Animal death, and Child abuse

butlerebecca's review

dark emotional inspiring 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

5.0

Just fucking masterful

This is exactly how you write stories of trauma - with reflection and compassion, and balanced with a gorgeous prose defined by its fine-tuned attention to detail

Check the trigger warnings because there’s some graphic stuff in this book but if you can stomach it it’s absolutely worth the read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Death, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Animal death, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Murder, Racism, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Addiction, Sexism, Emotional abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Pregnancy and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

lgiery's review

dark emotional hopeful 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? No

2.5

"Betty" draws from the author's mother's childhood, blurring the lines between biography and fiction. Despite this, I found many scenes unbelievable. The characters were flat and lacked depth, and I missed their complexity. 

Additionally, some scenes of abuse, violence, racism, and sexism seemed unnecessary and insensitively executed. There is also so much cruelty packed into this book with very little human complexity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Suicide attempt, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Rape, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Incest

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Homophobia

lselin's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Physical abuse, Incest, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, and Child abuse

Minor: Alcoholism and Addiction

libbyyjo's review

emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Animal death, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Cultural appropriation, Physical abuse, Child death, Abortion, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Violence, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Body shaming, Self harm, Pedophilia, Incest, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, and Addiction

cozyfantasyfaetay's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Child death, Death, and Rape

Moderate: Abortion, Vomit, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide attempt, Blood, Bullying, Misogyny, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racial slurs, and Addiction

andrearenee42's review

challenging dark reflective sad slow-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

4.25

Beautiful love story to family with beautiful writing, but read the content warnings 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Animal death, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Murder, Violence, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Abortion, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Rape, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Hate crime, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

very graphic depiction of animal torture, specifically kittens