Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Betty by Tiffany McDaniel

87 reviews

butlerebecca's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Just fucking masterful

This is exactly how you write stories of trauma - with reflection and compassion, and balanced with a gorgeous prose defined by its fine-tuned attention to detail

Check the trigger warnings because there’s some graphic stuff in this book but if you can stomach it it’s absolutely worth the read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Death, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Animal death, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Murder, Racism, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Addiction, Sexism, Emotional abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Pregnancy and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

amreynrt's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

I thought about what rating I wanted to give Betty. It is an incredible story written in a way that makes you forget everything around you, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst. Betty is a story of racism, abuse, love and magic. It is about very flawed people being a family. It is about a very flawed society through the 1960s. It is about a man loving his children and giving life the most he could. It is about traditions and relationships all seen from a growing kid's eyes.

The set up is great, and the author mentions she tried to do justice to Ohio. You can feel the nature and the Lanes (not streets) of Breathed. You can feel the river and the winter and the hills. Tiffany McDaniel did an incredible job of writing a book from a child's perspective. In this book, everything feels terribly real. 

Never have I ever loved reading such a tough story. Many have said it this way, and I wholeheartedly agree - it is a book I would love to reread, but I'm not sure I'd ever want to put myself through this again. A heartbreaking story put together through incredible writing. I had never felt so uncomfortable reading a book I would give 5 stars to. 

I loved when Betty confronted Leland at the end.  All this time she kept quiet for the sake of Fraya and because she did not understand how and whom to tell this story. I wanted Betty to confront or tell on Leland throughout the whole book, and it felt so real that she would do so only at the very end. Not all stories are fair, not all secrets are told in real life. She did it not when it mattered the most, but she did it nonetheless.

So, so many traumatising scenes. Nova on the train tracks. Trustin. Fraya. Alka when she was a little girl. The kittens. The racism. Sometimes, it was a little hard to take it all in. Yet you just keep going, because it is written beautifully and because you want to understand those characters that feel maybe a little too real.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal death, Racism, Child death, Incest, and Sexual assault

Minor: Vomit

abbylawr's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

Oh man. Both in its prose and as a tribute to the strength of Betty — the author's mother — what an achievement this book is. But please, please, read the content warnings before starting this book. It is very, very heavy and hard to read, but also very, very worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Animal death, Child death, Rape, Xenophobia, Racism, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Violence, and Death of parent

mbrunner's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Child death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Incest, and Abortion

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Sexism, and Self harm

libbyyjo's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Animal death, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Cultural appropriation, Physical abuse, Child death, Abortion, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Violence, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Body shaming, Self harm, Pedophilia, Incest, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, and Addiction

andrearenee42's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

4.25

Beautiful love story to family with beautiful writing, but read the content warnings 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Animal death, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Murder, Violence, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Abortion, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Rape, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Hate crime, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

very graphic depiction of animal torture, specifically kittens

strawberry_seagull's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This book is written beautifully. It is a fairly simple read, yet it is still chock-full of story and metaphors. My only hesitation with recommending this book to others is the amount of content warnings (which I will list). There are a LOT of different triggering scenes that are extremely graphic. However, despite the high intensity of the novel, I did thoroughly enjoy it. The characters are lovable and the stories they tell can resonate with anyone, even if someone hasn’t experienced the same issues the Carpenters have. My personal favorite dynamic was between Landon and Betty because I was able to see my dad and I in their father-daughter relationship.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Rape, Child death, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abortion, Bullying, Blood, Alcohol, Child abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Incest, and Drug abuse

Minor: Violence, Pregnancy, and Homophobia

angrylittlegartho's review against another edition

Was unaware of the content and hadn't seen trigger warnings prior to starting the book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Classism, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Blood, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Suicide attempt, Rape, Incest, Violence, Racism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Self harm

benchless's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This story was full of experiential contradictions.

It had some of the most beautiful storytelling I've ever read and some of the ugliest, most heartbreaking stories. Reading this was hard. It hurt. I cried through most of it. I felt heavy and cracked open and couldn't imagine how our protagonist Betty shouldered so much pain when I could barely read it. 

To be a woman in this novel was to suffer.

"You know what the heaviest thing in the world is, Betty? It's a man on top of you when you don't want him to be."

"By that time, I was at a point in my life where I had a very particular image of God in my head. I imagined God was a woman in a torn satin bed jacket with falling curlers in her messy hair. She sat in a bed of dirty sheets, surrounded by a canopy of sheer curtains spiders clung to. She ate chocolates from a box until her teeth were rotted and the box was empty, ready to be piled with the smashed boxes already on the floor. Blush was streaked across her cheeks like something trying to run away. Lipstick bled outside the lines of her lips as if they were melting. She was a woman used and left by humanity in ways only we know how to consume and leave."

With all this suffering, I was amazed by how much hope remained threaded throughout every chapter. Why? Betty had the most loving, imaginative father you could imagine. He was a Cherokee man married to a white woman in a time when nothing kind came from having brown skin. He struggled and failed to give his children what they needed at times, but he persevered and loved them all, even the bad ones. He filled their minds with the most beautiful stories that tried to make them feel special and worth something in a world that was constantly pushing them down. 

"The first woman was given antlers on her head to branch her power out into the world," he said, digging the rake deeper. "Slugs are frightened of that power because they are spineless creatures, and all spineless creatures are frightened of a woman's power."

"He would stretch her hands out to either side of her. 'You're my centimeter, inch, and foot. The distance between your hands is the distance that measures everything between the sun and the moon. Only a woman can measure such things.' 'Why?' Fraya asked to remind herself. 'Because you're powerful.'"

"He kissed my forehead. 'I don't know if I've ever told you that I love you, Little Indian. I don't know if I've ever said those words.' 'You said them every time you told me a story.' I looked into his eyes...'Have I ever told you I loved you?' I asked because I really didn't know. 'Every time you listened to one of my stories.'"

The relationship between Betty and her father is built on these stories, and they get Betty past all the hurdles of "coming of age against the knife" to become a writer herself. I adored him and Betty, and I left this book with great respect for Tiffany McDaniel's family history.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Racism, Incest, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Addiction, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, Grief, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Incest, Pedophilia, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Drug use, Self harm, Medical content, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Misogyny, Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Mental illness