Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

133 reviews

acogna's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

This story in and of itself was good Gothic fairytale—dark, cruel, mesmerising, heavy.

Like, that twist. Damn.

However, its quality is extremely held back by the prose. It was my main struggle; it attempts to write in that poetic, lyrical style of magical realism. But I could clearly tell that this is Roshani Choski's first foray into writing like this. Where at times the prose is lilting and beautiful, there are more instances where it's jarring, repetitive for no reason, nonsensical with its metaphors, clunky, obstructive, meandering, pretentious. It does not feel nice to read.

The House of Dreams, for instance, is characterised simply in its personification as a house: it sleeps, it favours people, it hates guests, it listens. It doesn't feel like a character, but it tries to be by way of being given personification. In comparison to the houses of Jackson, who are barely even personified in prose, but their foreboding presence, their dominance over the story, their Voyeuristic ghosts and cruel angles, are what make them characters.

The author sees how prose like this should work (it's obvious from the novel she's been inspired by a lot of good Gothic fiction, and it shows) but she doesn't seem to understand how to apply the prose in the way that best fits it. And it's a shame because of how good the story it's telling is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal death

kendal_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment

lauren97224's review against another edition

dark mysterious

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying and Sexual assault

Minor: Child abuse

uncreativeoops's review against another edition

mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

koreykit's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

This book is enchanting. Lyrical, Gothic perfection. I love that the audiobook has two different narrators.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual content, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pedophilia, Terminal illness, and Abandonment

There is implication that Azure's mom's partner has or wants to get sexual with Azure but few explicit details are given. It is mostly subtextual so those who get it get it and those who don't will probably just find the character super creepy.

salie's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

michaelayount's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

This was beautifully written, but the pacing just felt off. That was mostly likely because of the constant perspective switching. An interesting story, but I also guessed the ending like halfway through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Suicide attempt

solntse's review against another edition

dark emotional

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

<i>The Last Tale of the Flower Bride</i> is a lyrical read with beautiful prose. The setting is steeped in magic, and I loved the contrast of the House of Dreams with the outside world. The novel is inspired by gothic works such as Daphne du Maurier's <i> Rebecca </i> and Angela Carter's <i>The Bloody Chamber.</i> I love a Bluebeard retelling, and the folkloric imagery was a treat. I am sure that a reread would peel back layers that I didn't notice on the first read.

That being said, the novel's gothic nature relies on the power balance between the bridegroom and Indigo. The sense of fear and powerlessness is what imbues gothic novels with horror, which is vital for the genre. The Bluebeard tale relies on the isolation and vulnerability of the main character, and I felt that very strongly in the tale of Azure and Indigo. But in the Bluebeard-inspired framing story of the bridegroom and Indigo, I felt the gender reversal didn't have quite the same weight as it lacked the societal mirroring of powerlessness that is present in the patriarchal concept of the wife as property. Some of the horror moments-

such as the hair in the bridegroom's mouth or the starlings in the fan

felt a bit gimmicky. Even on reflection, as I learned more about the story, they seemed tacked on for the sake of it.

Azure and Indigo's story is where the story really shines. The slipperiness between reality and magic was intriguing and fit the author's prose style like a glove. The Otherworld was beautiful, and I ached to be able to walk into the magic of childhood myself. The House of Dreams was a beautiful setting, and the characters' interactions with it were a great use of imagery and foreshadowing. I enjoyed the escalation of tension, the ticking time bomb. Azure's loneliness and fear of abandonment were heartbreakingly realised. The author's depiction of Indigo was unsettling. The toxic friendships, manipulation, isolation and emotional abuse were often difficult to read. 

The framing story of the Bridegroom had less impact on me. In the tradition of <i>Rebecca</i>, the nameless narrator is mysterious and out of reach. The duality of his memories and his questioning of what he remembers and what he has been told were emotional for me as someone who has also

lost a brother.

That being said, some of his character development fell flat. He's a researcher, a well-educated scholar used to tracking down information from archives, but hasn't

looked up the birth records? Apologies if I misremembered that fact.

I didn't feel I knew much about him and found him quite empty as a protagonist and perhaps too passive. I felt quite distanced from him, in much the same way he was when

he watched the ants eating the bird alive without stopping it.

The openings of his chapters mimicked the formulaic style of oral histories and folklore, but it also made it easy to skip past those paragraphs as they were repetitive. Some of the folklore and images included felt like they were included for aesthetics and vibes instead of symbols, which lost some of the impact when they were relevant. 

Overall, a good read with beautiful prose; the gothic and folklore elements were intriguing, and Azure's story was worth reading!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, and Sexual harassment

booksbutmakeitgay's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism