Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini

186 reviews

0hannah0banana0's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

Please read the TW first. The book is very much centered around the protagonist’s trauma. 

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cinderblockk's review

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emotional 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

4.0

The book started off just a tad bit slow for me, but still I enjoyed learning about Alethea and her life. Despite what happened to her in her past and what she was currently going through, she was a strong woman. Familial trauma is not something you can forget or get over no matter how old you are, and we get to see her journey working through that. Also really loved that the story was narrated in Alethea’s native tongue of Trinidadian creole, gave it an authentic feel

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ladyjtm's review

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challenging dark sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

I agree with the review that this is an “emotionally immersive novel” and impossible to put down. Much of this is challenging because of the brutal abuse so this book is not for everyone. This author does not write abuse with side eye. It is vivid and up close. I found myself reading the entire book in one day because I couldn’t put it down until I knew Alethea was safe. Incredible storytelling of intersectionality and trauma. 

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wordsofclover's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-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

4.5

A truly beautiful, at times devastating book about a woman's realization of her own self worth, and her journey to escape an abusive history and face the truth of her childhood - and adulthood- of abusive relationships.

“And what is love? I human, I have feelings. I with the man. Of course I love him. Yet, the way he love me does make me hate myself.”

This book tells the story of Alethea, an almost 40-year-old woman living in Trinidad and daily having to hide the marks her common law husband gives her every night. As we get to know Alethea - her intelligence, her independence and her childhood, the reader begins to understand the reasons why Alethea 'allows' herself to be trapped inside an abusive relationship. But when a woman is shot dead by a man in a 'domestic incident' outside the shop she works in, Allie can't help but see herself in the victim, and the potential of something just as deadly happening to her.

This book is addictive as you grasp onto Allie's story and all the hardships she's dealt with in life and you just root for her to stand up for herself and somehow get away from Leo and make things better for herself. It was lovely seeing Allie reconnect with her cousin/brother Colin, and her childhood friend Jankie and I enjoyed the emphasis on female friendship and support and kindness from others.

There are some really hard moments in this book - not only the constant abuse and fear Allie feels around Leo but also as we learn from her childhood, the sexual abuse she received from her uncle from the age of 5, as well as the daily physical and emotional abuse of her mother. And from there, the stream of men Allie found herself with that treated her the same, so she really knows nothing but abusive relationships and men who will put her down - physically and emotionally.

There were some interesting topics in this book as well around race and colourism. Allie is a white woman though we soon learn her grandmother was a Black woman - and Colin is a Black man. Allie details ways in which she has noticed she has been treated differently to Colin due to their skin tones.

Really enjoyed this though as I've said it was a hard read at times. Allie's story is tough, educational yet inspiring. 

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rachel_bunting93's review

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challenging dark emotional 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

3.75


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anmolu's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Deeply heart wrenching and emotional. I fell in love with Alethea. I shudder that she would've never left Leo and it took him die to for her freedom. The last sentence of the the book is satisfactory and hoepful.

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addy_books's review against another edition

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

5.0


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inneraman's review

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

As mentioned by Kei Miller, “You dip into the first page and don’t come up for breath until the last…thoroughly enjoyable” and I would add brilliantly written

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dramagirl2003's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.25

it was sad *cue cartoon sad face*, but just like the places i've cried in public, which I read earlier this year, it was enlightening to read some of the reasons why people stay in abusive relationships. I'm rooting for alethea to grow in her non-toxic friendships and become her own woman

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emeralddoha's review

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challenging 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

4.5


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