Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Een lied voor Achilles by Madeline Miller

188 reviews

valerian_honeybee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Death, War, Blood, Homophobia, Grief, Sexism, Rape, Ableism, Sexual assault, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Medical content

davbat's review against another edition

emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Extremely tragic, even more than you'd expect going into it with knowledge of the story. Time after time, Miller shows you what could have been if not for fate/pride/war. Extremely tragic doomed romance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Murder, Child abuse, Child death, and Rape

Moderate: Homophobia, Grief, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, Self harm, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Slavery, Death, Animal death, and Outing

Minor: Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, and Cannibalism

Rape and murder are just as common as in the original myth but without any of the euphemism

casleigh's review against another edition

Too slow, maybe it’s the audio but I couldn’t pay attention 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Slavery, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and War

caitlinspeachyreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense fast-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

2.5

I understand why there is such a hype around the genre of book but I struggled to connect with Achilles. Also the constant threat and statements of woman being SA’d really added to made the struggle to enjoy this. 

Loved seeing a LGBT+ story being so well regarded. Wish I liked it more! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexism, Animal death, Medical content, Gore, Child death, Blood, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic relationship

inkwellimps's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

INCREDIBLY investing reinterpretation of Achilles and Patroclus (and Briseis!) from the Iliad from the point-of-view of Patroclus. The story begins in the pair's childhood and follows their origins through

their deaths and, in Patroclus' case, a bit further.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Homophobia, Death, Child abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Slavery

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Medical content

Minor: Gore, Grief, and Bullying

Child death refers to

a child bully character that is killed by another child character on accident. It is graphic in detail, but not emotionally overwhelming in my opinion

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el_wheel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

Madeline Miller is nothing if not a woman who can make me sob 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual content, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Homophobia, War, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Animal death, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Blood, Bullying, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Gore

Moderate: Rape, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, and Child death

islathebooknerd's review against another edition

inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I have always loved Greek Mythology, especially the tale of the Trojan War, this book is really good for someone who is looking for a new take on the classic tale, but also wants to cry for hours on the couch after finishing it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and War

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Pregnancy

chrisljm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

Yeah I cried. 

Madeline Miller is a beautiful writer and I did enjoy her retelling of this myth, but I didn't find it to be particularly remarkable. 

I think the thing I found most puzzling was Patroclus' inclination towards saving women from being war trophies when this was very much a sociopolitical norm during this period in time. Of course that's not to say I wanted to see more scenes of women being brutalized or that it's impossible for there to be any person during this period to disagree with such practices, but I think when making the decision to have that be one of the main characters in this myth for the purpose of having a more likable protagonist, it becomes a story that lacks the social and cultural context of the historical myths by changing certain themes to fit modern sensibilities. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Blood, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, War, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, and Slavery

Moderate: Bullying, Sexual content, Abandonment, Colonisation, Infidelity, Self harm, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Alcohol and Child abuse

mconroy9137's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Violence, War, Sexual harassment, and Rape

Moderate: Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Torture, Classism, Deportation, Grief, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, Confinement, Homophobia, Vomit, Abandonment, and Child abuse

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Death of parent, Sexual content, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Cursing

soap2's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Gore, Blood, Grief, Body horror, War, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Medical content, Child abuse, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child abuse and Child death