Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini

51 reviews

ladyjtm's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Incest, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Racism, Rape, Gun violence, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse

siobhanward's review against another edition

challenging 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? No

4.0

This is a book where you should absolutely check the triggers before reading - other reviewers and sites have detailed info on what to expect.

This was a short, but strong work. While the dual timelines felt a bit disjointed at first, as things came together the use of the two timelines became a powerful storytelling tool. I really appreciated that Alethea was not a broken or hopeless character. She was strong and independent and forging her own way, while still lifting others up around her. Too often in these kinds of stories do authors allow their characters to become totally defeated with everything happening to them outside of their control. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, Death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Incest, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence

leereseite's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense 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

3.75

A very intense Story about a woman who refused for a long time to acknowledge her past traumas and she was shaped by her past. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

annalu's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Rape, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Murder

sidekicksam's review against another edition

Written almost entirely in Trinidadian Creole, this book follows the life of Alethea, known to some also as Miss Allie or Girlie. About to turn 40, she is in a relationship with a violent man, but comes before the choice of where she wants to go with her life. As we go deeper into the story, more troubling secrets from her past become unveiled, but how will she deal with them? 

I don't want to waste too many words on this review because I'm having a hard time finding the right ones to describe how amazed, inspired and surprised I was about this book. Exploring themes of domestic abuse, generational trauma, colonialism, colorism and friendship, Allen-Agostini writes beautifully and engagingly. She could've written the story over 1.000 pages and I still would have wanted more, but that made it all the more amazing that she did it in less than 250 and it still made me feel so engrossed in the main character and her story. 

Highly recommend. Go read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Rape, Death of parent, Death, Racism, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Violence, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Alcohol, and Incest

gobby_gilbert's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Abortion, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Death, and Classism

samants's review

dark 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

4.75

Phenomenal. The dialect is lyrical, and I enjoyed the challenge of reading something not written for me. The book is a portrait of abuse and therefore heavy and dark, but also stunning, and I adored the main character. The ending is wide open, and I love it.

Do mind the content warnings -- they are real and graphic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Violence, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Sexual harassment

celinecra's review

dark 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

This book was incredibly beautiful, even if it was a tough read, as I could feel the main character's pain through the words. 
"Brutality is an inescapable inheritance of humanity, but so is love. As terribly as we can be hurt, so deeply can we be healed."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Rape, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

tombomp's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Big trigger warnings for domestic violence, rape, child abuse, an *explicit* child sexual abuse scene, Spoilerincest. All of which are intense and there are constant scenes throughout the book.

I think it's hard to put my thoughts together about this. It's a cavalcade of trauma and abuse and then it just ends so... neatly? Like, not that the scars are resolved obviously. But it feels weird - although even saying that feels wrong, as if I'm suggesting that actually the trauma should have carried on, which is also not what I meant.

I think part of it is that the neat ending owes very little to the actions of the main character in the "present day" - there's connections formed in childhood that only just come back around all at once and we only see bits and pieces of how they happened and Spoilera loose friendship where the other person seemingly took it upon herself to get the MC's abusive violent boyfriend shot in a way that framed him as the shooter? it's a little vague at the end exactly what happened and how much knowledge people had but it's heavily implied imo. That's not bad exactly - everyone needs support and it's good to show stuff happening as a group effort, obviously. It more just adds to the sense that things wrapped up due purely to coincidence than anything else. Which... again I guess that's not that inaccurate to real life. So again I can't exactly mark it down for that. 

I think the explicit child sexual abuse scene really threw me for a loop and eclipsed everything else about the book. Not suggesting it's wrong to portray it, just it was so intense (even though I had to skim it) that I couldn't really get settled about how I feel about the book due to feeling so upset and lost reading that. 

I will say as an obvious unalloyed good thing: the Trinidadian Creole writing style is really good and I loved reading it. It's an incredibly readable book that's quite compelling

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Infertility, Incest, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Murder, Domestic abuse, and Rape

sarumi's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Rape, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault