Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

41 reviews

catbuechler's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Confinement, and Mental illness

surelyinthefountain's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

It's good! The prose is lush and descriptive. There's this moody, claustrophobic feeling that the writing does so well -- you really get the sense that everyone's got a predestined role to play with little real agency as they rattle on towards their ultimate fates. Fortune feels like a character, and that's pretty neat.
There's a lot of content in here that's uh...pretty triggering, to say the least. Thematically, the book is in no small part about trauma -- its effects, its consequences, etc. -- so it kind of needed to be so. I don't think Waters ever goes gratuitous with it, either. But yeah, the forced institutionalization stuff in here is no joke.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Bullying, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Eating disorder

Minor: Pedophilia

spencesational's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

A fantastic read although after the end of Part One and with such a heart-stopping twist I expected more. To say I was disappointed would be grossly unfair but I did expect the rest of the book to have similar twists and turns, and even though there were some unexpected turns they weren't quite as shocking for me. 

I would say the book in general was medium-paced. There were heart-racing chapters in parts and very slow-paced chapters in others but as a whole it rolled along quite nicely.

Not quite one of my favourites but definitely a five-star novel and one that I'll think about for a while to come.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Murder

lemann's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment

josie9's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Torture, Sexual content, and Child abuse

Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Death, Body shaming, Child death, and Alcohol

lais's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Pedophilia

breemeup's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual assault

shaney_swift's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Ableism

filmscore's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, and Violence

emfass's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Bullying, Child abuse, Sexism, Violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Child death, and Trafficking

Minor: Religious bigotry