Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini

35 reviews

zzara's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

This book is beautiful and horrific, it was both easy to read and one of the hardest things I've ever read. It tells the story of a light-skinned Trinidadian woman who is suffering domestic abuse, and unpacking a life of abuse starting as a small child.

Over the course of the book, she discovers that she is the child of incest, and her uncle who is also her father, also raped her throughout her childhood and impregnated her.

I'm so heartbroken by this story, it's so horrific and yet it didn't strike me as gratuitous in its violence, abuse and atrocity. It served a purpose in telling a story about a woman who struggles through and tried to process and accept such a difficult past. I also loved that the narration of the book was in Trinidadian Creole. I thought it was so rhythmic, so reading this book felt like being underwater and just processing the words. So many of the adjectives that I wasn't familiar with still felt like such perfect descriptors. This book is a hard read, and has graphic descriptions of

physical abuse, child sexual abuse and incest

, but was still well worth the read. I would highly recommend, but only if you're feeling emotionally stable - this book is one giant trigger warning and content wise a very difficult and heavy read.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Vomit

giraffeluver02's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Infertility, Grief, and Gun violence

Minor: Abortion, Death of parent, and Addiction

tunatanga's review

challenging dark hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

A very hard book to read, but 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Rape, Incest, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Miscarriage and Abortion

stuffinmybrainhole's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Miscarriage, Infertility, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Racism, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Incest, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Grief, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Alcohol

rhi_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Incest, Murder, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, Infidelity, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Abortion, Death of parent, and Gun violence

hannahkate's review against another edition

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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Rape, Incest, and Adult/minor relationship

zinatakara's review

dark emotional 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

3.75

I loved the way it was written in Trinidadian dialect and the 4th wall breaks. The story sucked me in from the first page but the content is hard. Lots of abuse, sexual assault, poverty and more so it’s an extremely sad read. But Alethea prevails.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, and Emotional abuse

raidanuha's review

challenging emotional 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Pedophilia, Violence, Child abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Abortion

isabookabel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

Found it really hard to review this book. It was very difficult to get through at the beginning particularly. Truly harrowing and deeply sad. But still think the story was well written and it was a really difficult topic to explore which Allen-Agostini did really powerfully. Her narration of the audiobook was brilliant and  added nuance, intonation and flow which I could have missed otherwise.

In some ways I feel like it should be rated higher, but at the same time it left me emotionally drained at times and I wouldn't recommend it to friends unless they read similar content or show a particular interest.

Edit: have moved this up to a 4 star, as the story and narrator really stuck with me, and might even reread at some point, so many emotions with this book hard to know how I feel about it, but feel like 4 stars is fairer and solid.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Domestic abuse, Violence, Gun violence, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Incest, Infertility, Racism, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

waybeyondblue's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Incest

Moderate: Sexual content, Infidelity, Gun violence, Death, Rape, and Violence

Minor: Vomit, Toxic relationship, and Blood