Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Discomfort of Evening by Lucas Rijneveld

76 reviews

astridrv's review against another edition

Reading this book felt like watching Hard to be a god. Can't recommend it but don't regret it. And the author sure is a poet. All of the content warnings..

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Incest, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Vomit, and Excrement

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

hannacolm's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Animal death, and Rape

Moderate: Child death and Child abuse

morenowagain's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.25

I was very fascinated by the themes and characters in this book, but maybe due to the translation I found it hard to enjoy on a literary level. Far too many similes, things that needed more explanation and depth had none whereas things that were explored greatly seemed to have no purpose. I felt reading this that I was only scratching the surface of what was happening and I couldn't really get invested. Maybe the original Dutch is much better, who knows!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Death, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Animal death, Child abuse, Excrement, Gore, Incest, Sexual harassment, and Suicidal thoughts

xoopa's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

2.5

This book talks about shared grief and personal and religious guilt from the point of a view of a pre teen girl. It’s a beautifully written book and quite poignant at times. But all of this is overwhelmingly drowned out by the amount of graphic details of animal and sexual cruelty and references. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Excrement, Incest, Child abuse, Grief, and Self harm

ellislilylovestoread's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Child death, Incest, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Animal death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Death, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Sexual assault, and Rape

mel_j's review

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Sexual content, and Medical content

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Child death, Child abuse, and Animal death

Minor: Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Alcohol, and Suicide attempt

barelyalex's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

5.0

Haunting. I think about this book often, there were parts that cut through me. Unabashedly real and important. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicide, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Eating disorder, Incest, Sexual assault, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, and Antisemitism

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Murder, Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, and Self harm

fscherlie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Child abuse

Moderate: Suicide, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts

ursa_arlo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Positives. Marieke Lucas Rijneveld is a master when it comes to the Dutch language. The writing style was wonderfully poetic and each new event layered onto each other to reveal new and hidden meanings. Example spoiler.

(Like the last plague, 'Darkness', leading Jas to the basement where she crawls into the freezer to be close to Mathias, which is also the day on which she is supposed to 'go to the other side' of the lake with Hanna.)

The book is also supremely uncomfortable; the things Jas does make sense through her reasoning and her innocent view of things which helps her cope with the death of her brother and the subsequent abuse she suffers. All in all, this is a beautiful book, not for the faint of heart, about the different ways in which grief can spiral and corrupt.

Negatives. This book is as Dutch as can be in its subject matter. The events described are unapologetically horrible and I do not find that appealing. While I could, to an extent, put myself in the shoes of this traumatized, reformist, farmer's family in the early 2000's, I greatly disliked the taboo subjects covered, the animal cruelty, the sexual and physical abuse, etc. You really need to have the stomach for it. 

Quote. "'Weet je," zeg ik terwijl ik mijn neus in haar haren duw die naar Zwitsal ruiken. "Ik wil wel groter worden maar niet dat mijn armen mee groeien. Nu pas jij er precise in.' Hannah is even stil en zegt dan: 'Als ze te groot worden, sla ik ze net als mijn wintersjaal gewoon twee keer om mij heen." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Child death, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Animal death, Child abuse, Excrement, Death, Grief, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Abortion and Antisemitism

rhysied's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Child abuse, Torture, Incest, Suicide, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, and Grief