Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Najbardziej niebieskie oko by Toni Morrison

19 reviews

emilynacey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, and Racism

Moderate: Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Infidelity, and Alcoholism

grboph's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

5.0

This was quite the read. It was definitely one of the most heartbreaking stories I've ever read, and the characters were fully fleshed out and even the more insignificant ones played important roles. Morrison's writing is so beautiful and engaging that despite how heavy this book is, it made me want to read more of her books as soon as I can. I would recommend this book to just about anyone out there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Incest, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexism, Alcohol, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, and Death

Minor: Blood, Bullying, Hate crime, Mental illness, and Slavery

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is the first book by Toni Morrison that I've read. Her writing is lovely and lyrical despite the story in this case being told primarily from the perspective of older children and dealing with some genuinely painful and ugly human behavior. Additionally, I listened to the audiobook as the narrator is Toni Morrison, and in this case, I felt it really enhanced the experience hearing a story in the voice of the author.

The Foreward of the book sets the tone by starting with the following, "There can't be anyone, I am sure, who doesn't know what it feels like to be disliked, even rejected, momentarily or for sustained periods of time. Perhaps the feeling is merely indifference, mild annoyance, but it may also be hurt. It may even be that some of us know what it is like to be actually hated - hated for things we have no control over and cannot change."

The primary individual in the story, the one with a common thread throughout, is eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove. She's a demure child already broken down by a harsh life of indifferent parents and the taunts of too many bullies, sometimes school children and sometimes family. The most common and reliable narrator in the book is eight-year-old Claudia MacTeer. She and her twelve-year-old sister, Frieda, are as true of friends to Pecola as anyone in her life will be. The story is set in a time right after the Great Depression, as the country is recovering. Claudia shares how her and Frieda's life is comfortable, and they live in a sometimes harsh, but happy and stable home. One day Pecola enters their life and from this point the reader learns about other characters with Claudia as the narrator or via third person narrative with inset narratives, resulting in differing people's experiences at differing points in time. These inset first person narratives give the reader more of the backstory, or formative years, for various characters in the story. I thought this was a great way to create an immersive experience for the reader.

This book deals with many heavy subjects, and chief among them is how young Pecola was dealt a very bad hand in life and ended up accepting as truth that her life was of little value because of the way she was talked to, talked about, treated, and mistreated. Pecola's idea of a perfect life was associated with whiteness and having blue eyes, so maybe if she had blue eyes, she could escape her painful life.

This book really feels like it's a story you're hearing from some intelligent but cautious children living in a complex world where they understand a lot more than you want to believe children that age should know. They're self-sufficient because they have to be and, in many ways, this makes them able to survive the hazards and ugly truth that comes into their lives. While there are really rough edges to this story, the resilience of child narrator Claudia helps make it easier to digest when some characters in the book do not get a happy ending.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Animal death, Incest, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Racism, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Infidelity, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Death, Alcoholism, Bullying, Classism, Hate crime, Excrement, and Miscarriage

jessthanthree's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Racism, Animal cruelty, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Classism, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual content

Minor: Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, and Infidelity

rsngphoenix's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Addiction, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Grief, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Violence, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, and Incest

booksthoughtsandtea's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-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

5.0

I feel that it would be inappropriate for me to rate this below 5 stars. Content/trigger warning for racism, depression, anxiety, trauma, rape, murder, neglect, abanding children, incest, sexual assault, pedofillia, religious trauma, 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Racism, Medical trauma, Medical content, Infidelity, Infertility, Incest, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Child abuse, Bullying, Blood, Abandonment, Ableism, Vomit, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Mental illness, and Gaslighting

annibear_bookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Incest, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Alcohol, Infertility, Murder, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault

tabear's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Hate crime, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

_lia_reads_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia and Rape

Moderate: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, and Sexism