Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini

35 reviews

istaisa's review

dark emotional sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Incest

nokvi's review

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Amazing book written completely in trini dialect. The Bread the Devil Knead takes us into an deep dive into Trinidadian life as we go thru the motions with Alethea as she deals with the demons of her past and present. Abuse from her childhood has followed her into adulthood till that is all she knows. And the lightheart manner via which these heavy topics are delivered is an icing on the cake as it is reflective of how someone in the situation may view the matter.

No notes 10/10

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Infidelity, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Incest, and Adult/minor relationship

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

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

marygray149's review

dark emotional inspiring tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Abortion, Alcoholism, Rape, Addiction, Alcohol, and Incest

t33_'s review

dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

WOW.
Sad, intense, empowering, womanhood, emotional. I don’t think I’ve ever read something like this before but I am glad that I have. My God, this book was something else! I barely write reviews and I don’t give many books 5 stars but this story was impeccable. 

10/10 across the board! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Infertility, Death, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Incest, and Emotional abuse

dallastodd's review

challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Rape, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage

tiallie's review

challenging dark hopeful 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship

emilyrowanstudio's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is a very unique book. A visceral, hard-hitting book about how abuse in child - to put it lightly - leads to an adulthood of domestic abuse and submittance to men's power over women. Our protagonist, Alethea, is not weak though. She is strong, independent, and the picture of resilience. How do you live a life without abuse if it's all you've ever known? Alethea is powerful in her own right, and the way she is Allen-Agostini will possibly always stay with me. 

I hadn't heard of The Bread the Devil Knead until it was recommended in an email from bookshop.org. I was drawn in by the title - what a title!! - followed by reviews on Goodreads saying what an immersively emotional read this was. It came as no surprise to me to find out this was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction. The character and world building is phenomenal.

Told mostly in first person Trinidadian creole, interspersed with flashback chapters written in the third person, Alethea's voice is brought to life and I don't think i'll ever read another voice like hers. She never breaks, despite everything that's happened (happens) to her, and only does she come close as the story develops and horrors from her past become clearer and clearer. Take heed of the trigger warnings - incest, rape, and murder to name but a few. This is not an easy read but, if you can stomach it, you will be rewarded as this is ultimately a story about hope, and what comes next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Incest, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Murder, Rape, and Sexual assault