Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Women Talking by Miriam Toews

17 reviews

katierobertsonshaddix's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Rape, Incest, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Suicide, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Miscarriage, and Mental illness

theelizabethjoy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad slow-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? No

4.0

TW: rape, sexual abuse, physical abuse 

This book was extremely difficult to read, not only because of the subject matter, or due to the fact that I have been a victim of rape and sexual abuse, but because of how it was written. 
I do think it is a story that needed to be told, that needs to be experienced. If you have been a victim, make sure you are in a decent headspace before reading this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Self harm, Vomit, Physical abuse, and Medical content

Moderate: Incest, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Stalking

crosberg's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This is the best book I've read this year (so far).  I'm glad I went in knowing the basic plot, because it definitely deserves a bunch of content warnings and isn't for the faint of heart.  But both the writing itself and the structure, how the story was told, were absolutely masterful.  The perspective choices, the character backgrounds, the jokes and small details, every single choice that Toews made elevates it to the absolute height of what the book is capable of.  The pacing is perfect, tight without being unforgiving.  When I finished reading it I had to lay down on the floor and stare at the ceiling for a while so I could process.  An absolute masterpiece.  But please please do pay attention to the content warnings, this book speaks about some of the most difficult subjects I've ever read about in a book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexism, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Sexual content

jessbrownette's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Incest, Grief, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, and Death

alisonvh's review

challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

4.0

I'm not sure how I feel about a book called "Women Talking" being narrated by a man, but on the whole, I really enjoyed this book and I'm glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Dementia, and Child abuse

dhrutigopaluni's review

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

2.25

I had a hard time rating or reviewing this book because on the one hand, I was invested enough to read through the end, but on the other hand, it employs my least favorite writing mechanism. I really struggle with authors who choose to fictionalize a historical occurrence, especially one that is so traumatic. Unless there is explicit documentation, we do not necessarily know how the actual figures felt or what they thought, and to put words in their mouths or their minds seems to me to be vastly disrespectful. I also did not understand or care for the inclusion of the male narrator’s weird obsession with Ona - what was the point of that? I also thought it odd that August was translating all of the dialogue into english for transcription. Why translate in the first place, and why into English? If this originally occurred in Bolivia, and the purpose was to make the minutes more accessible, why wasn’t it translated into Spanish? And if we are to assume that the author has relocated the communities for the purpose of this book, what was the point of that? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

mipa_jt's review

dark emotional reflective 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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Suicide