Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Sink: A Memoir by Joseph Earl Thomas

9 reviews

gondorgirl's review against another edition

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Classism, Cursing, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, and Body shaming

demonxore's review against another edition

challenging sad tense medium-paced

2.75

Very very similar to my childhood so obviously this resonates, but the overall style and the method of ending the memoir could have been better.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Dysphoria, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Violence, and Emotional abuse

mrsmishler's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Pedophilia, Sexism, Child abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Violence, Sexual assault, Homophobia, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Transphobia

bookbaenia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, and Drug abuse

vagrantheather's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

4.5

I picked up Sink from a library display knowing nothing about the story or the author (and not noticing it was a memoir, which is far outside my typical fare). Three pages in I knew it was coming home with me. The story itself is hyperreal, disturbingly graphic and awful, but without that absurdism authors often add for levity. It isn't self piteous or self aggrandizing. It's not torture porn (you don't read it because you like to see the characters suffer). It makes no excuses and pulls no punches. This is a story replete with drug abuse, child abuse, spousal abuse, infestations, violence, rape, bullying, every difficult inner city reality imaginable (except, noticeably, homelessness). It is not "pleasant" to read. But it is well written. It's relatable in a way that literature needs. It gives a voice to people on the fringes, people society turns a blind eye to, people who don't often escape the brutality of their early lives.

I grew up in poverty but this is a whole different level of challenging. And somehow I feel that Joseph Earl Thomas would say the same - that yeah he had it bad, but others had it worse. Abuse is like that; you normalize it to survive, you justify that others are in worse places, you feel grateful for the little liberties you have. And that feels important to me. Thomas never had to say as much for me to feel like the point was well made. So I'd say this book is deft, competent, sophisticated. Important.

I have confusing feelings about the rampant abuse portrayed and would give a strong content warning to anyone with subjects they can't tolerate. All closet skeletons are on display.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Cursing, Excrement, Body horror, Sexual content, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Incest, Homophobia, Animal death, and Gaslighting

drbex's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Drug use, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

sierras12's review against another edition

challenging sad medium-paced

4.5

One of the best written and saddest memoirs I’ve ever read. Every paragraph was a gut punch but I’m so glad I read it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Violence, Racism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, and Child abuse

alite428's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Addiction, and Homophobia

Moderate: Cursing, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

iindra's review against another edition

dark emotional

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the e-ARC.

Sink is a series of vignettes from Joseph Earl Thomas's childhood as a creative, nerdy Black kid constantly surrounded by the threat of violence. The way it discusses toxic masculinity, cycles of violence, race, and poverty in depth, all through the childlike and humorous perspective of an 8- to 12-year-old narrator, make this a must-read. Thomas's descriptions of his childhood environment will stay with me for a long time.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Bullying, Murder, Animal death, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Misogyny

Minor: Transphobia