Reviews tagging 'Incest'

All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews

13 reviews

nialystic's review

hopeful inspiring reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Rape, Incest, Deportation, Xenophobia, and Alcoholism

Minor: Domestic abuse

araines's review

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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Incest, and Homophobia

sirthatsacowboy's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Deportation, Addiction, Grief, Sexual content, and Drug use

Moderate: Racism and Toxic relationship

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Incest

moniipeters's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Homophobia, Racism, Violence, Transphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Child abuse, Classism, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Deadnaming, Deportation, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, and Rape

emilybacher's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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: Addiction, Incest, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Police brutality and Alcoholism

sakisreads's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

This was slightly disappointing to me. BookTok sold me quite a lot on this so I had high hopes and they weren’t necessarily met 🥲

In saying that though, there were some real tender moments where I truly felt for Sneha. She’s obviously brought so much trauma to the forefront

e.g. her father’s deportation, her inability to ‘come out’ to her parents, her uncle’s sexual abuse towards her

so it’s completely understandable that she does the things that she does. Also, I got quite frustrated at Marina and Thom throughout the story, when they dropped her whenever they felt it was convenient. Friendships, I have also found through personal experience, are so volatile that sometimes it can be hard to keep up 🫠

Someone said this was one to read when you felt a bit lost in your 20’s and it definitely fits that genre. I’m hopeful to read other things by Sarah Thankam Mathews that’ll work better for me though 🥰 Thank you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Dysphoria, Racism, Death, Incest, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Deportation

rachaelwho's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

Pacing was off for me. It took me a long time to get invested, and even once I had, the first act felt so long that I was surprised to find more acts beyond it. But the author had a lot to say. It's not 5 stars bc it's perfect, but because there's nothing worth faulting it for, if that makes sense. A very caring, thoughtful book. Excellent voice acting from the narrator.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Drug use, Incest, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Outing, Homophobia, Mental illness, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Lesbophobia, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Deportation, Fatphobia, and Sexual violence

malayapapaya's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Deportation, Classism, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Incest, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death

lindsayerin's review

challenging reflective tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Deportation, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Incest, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Fatphobia

dhritigupta's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing sad tense medium-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

4.0

this one is a complicated 4 stars:

i really loved the prose in this, it was beautiful but also easy to read! i also felt like i haven’t seen many of these types of stories where the main character was brown and queer, so that representation was special.

that being said, i think there were a few things that detracted points for me, the main one being the way the two Black characters were handled in the book. i feel like tig and their sister were both used to explore issues that the author wasn't really in the place to explore?? like when coming from an author who isn’t black, it comes off more like perpetuating stereotypes than anything else. also feel a bit weird abt the author using aave and Black slang in those character’s dialogues for the same reasons. 

i’m also kind of the in the camp that “imperfect” characters don’t have to say problematic shit for no reason… like there’s some weird stuff sneha says or thinks that i guess makes sense for the time the story is set in, but also doesn’t really add anything to the plot or her development. so why! 

i feel like the romance with a white character started as a bit of commentary on how brown people are obsessed with whiteness but then evolved into a very real thing that i was supposed to ship… i cant! are u asking me to forget all those weird micro aggressions? i did not like the love interest and it made me sad to see sneha going through it for a white girl who really really wasn’t worth the trouble 

last qualm: the book did suchhh a good job sometimes with describing cultural stuff/indian daughter stuff/immigrant stuff that it made me so confused when some low hanging metaphor or simile about mangos and saris was made. it was a mixed bag in that regard

i still enjoyed the book a lot though, especially with its emphasis on the power of platonic love, exploration of the feeling of safety, unique setting and descriptions of queer brown womanhood. a nice slice of life bildungsroman that was entertaining but reflective the whole way through

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Deportation, Incest, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Addiction and Racism

Minor: Fatphobia, Transphobia, and Vomit