Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini

61 reviews

kateivy's review

challenging funny mysterious tense 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

3.5

This was a difficult book for me to read in a few ways. The dialect made it difficult for me get enveloped in the story, but once I was it really shaped Alethea's character.

There is great commentary here about sexism, trauma, abuse, relationships that I think are really important. But, not gonna lie

The rape scene was so graphic it made me sick. After that I was just reading it to get it over with

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Content Warnings

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

sjames's review

dark emotional hopeful 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Physical abuse

2hermione4's review

dark sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Child abuse

Moderate: Death, Alcoholism, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, and Fatphobia

katesmithfilm's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, and Murder

Moderate: Rape

rebekah_florence's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

“And I not dead. I still here. And people love me.”  The Bread the Devil Knead’s Aletheia is a character that, throughout reading the novel, reminded me of The Color Purple’s Celie.  I like that the Allen-Agostini splits of especially heavy chapters of text by interspersing chapters of flashbacks from Alethea’s childhood.  I could see that she’s truly been fighting and burdened her whole life.  When Aletheia has moments of happiness, I wished that those could continue forever.  I felt, however, that I didn’t get to know Alethea that well.  Perhaps that was intentional, as we know that it’s difficult for her to have her own life, but I longed to feel more connected to the character.  This was not only my first Carribean author, but also my first book written in Trinidadian Creole.  I’m inspired to read more books in dialect, and further, learn more about various Caribbean cultures.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Blood, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism

mcc's review

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

This book needs a lot of content warnings, because, you name it, it's in it. Beautifully written from a prose point of view, but overly simplistic from a plot point of view. The main character escapes her cycle of abuse because 2 people from her past wind up popping out of nowhere within 24 hours of each other and suddenly give her a magical support network, then instead of helping her leave her abuser, he is conveniently

killed

and she is left free. So I didnt like how there was no empowerment of the main character and she just got ridiculously lucky by fate throwing all of these things in her lap in the matter of a few weeks. This was unbelievable so made the story much less powerful for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

mganallirt's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

haricots's review against another edition

• 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

4.5

⭐️ 4.5 stars
A beautifully written book about intergenerational trauma, domestic violence, and identity. This book has a strong narrator’s voice, and really envelops the reader inside the story. Each character that gets reintroduced to the narrator's life, from the same original area, has had a completely different life trajectory and we see this all through the eyes of Alethea, the narrator. I found it very intriguing to experience the events that occur from Alethea’s perspective, and feel her reactions and criticisms. The subtle commentary on tourism, class, race, and privilege was extremely thought provoking. Throughout the novel the reader learns about Alethea’s past and context, and the intergenerational trauma that she has inherited. 

I felt this book was more valuable for the characters introduced, and the way interactions between them occur, than for the plot necessarily. However, that’s not to say that the plot was irrelevant. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Pedophilia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

geraldinerowe's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

Wow. I'm not sure how a story so harrowing can also be so tender, endearing and heartwarming. It tears at your emotions from beginning to end. This book will stay with me for some time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

hannah_cmass's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence