Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

7 reviews

jelliestars's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Racism, Ableism, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Classism, Racial slurs, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Car accident, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Medical content, Vomit, Alcohol, Murder, Abandonment, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

Minor: Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Slavery, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, War, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Body shaming, Excrement, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Antisemitism, Cultural appropriation, Eating disorder, Confinement, Cancer, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, and Trafficking

kari_t's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I can't say loudly enough how much I love Donna Tartt's superior writing ability. Truly next level and unlike literally any author I have ever read. But, unfortunately, the problems I had with this book outweighted the enjoyment.

First: The constant flow of disturbing events and misery. Just a parade of depression: animal abuse, animal death, animal neglect, child abuse, child death, child neglect, racism, drug abuse, meth dealers, white supremacy...and on and on. It just didn't matter to me anymore how well Tartt could write. I just got SO sick and tired of all the awful everything of EVERYONE's life in this small town. 

Second: Not a thriller. After reading (and loving) The Goldfinch and The Secret History by Tartt, I was particularly excited to pick up The Little Friend, seeing it slotted as "Mystery/Thriller" and "Psychological Thriller". It is neither. The blurb proclaims things like "...Harriet...sets out to unmask (her brother's) killer" and "Filled with hairpin turns of plot...". Meh. While true Harriet tries for a time to determine the killer, as a pre-teem might do, she decides quickly who to blame. Then it's all about how she'll try to get revenge or justice. Most of the book is just atmospheric description (albeit brilliantly written) but there is not much going on from page to page. There are scenes of action and suspense at some times, but overall, no...this is not a mystery/thriller. 

And so, I'm being generous with 3-stars because of Tartt's writing. But the deeply dreary and subject matter and violence on every...single...page, and the ambling, pointless arc of the plot was a 1-star.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Racism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Grief, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Racial slurs, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Incest

lief_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Ableism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Racism, Addiction, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Classism, Death, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Confinement

zaroof's review against another edition

The writing style is extremely confusing. There wasn’t a consistent narrator, you’d read one narrator speak and then out of the blue another narrator starts to speak about a whole different topic and time and it became too frustrating to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Murder, Racial slurs, and Racism

worm_food's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Secret History was a book completely separate from Donna's other works, but this one was literally a Goldfinch demo in the way it was written and the characters developed. She really said "trust your audience" before making characters throw around racial slurs on page 20 or so, and it does take a while to grow on you but even those things considered it was a book whose character analysis made it jump from 2 to 4 stars overnight. 

I am convinced she's killed people. But the No-Love toxic family dynamic she managed to establish so masterfully this time too is enough to make me overlook this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Racial slurs

Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

nialiversuch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Vomit, Medical trauma, Grief, Gun violence, Animal death, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Bullying, Child death, Classism, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Medical content, Misogyny, and Sexism

ameliasbooks's review against another edition

Dnf page 333.
I just can't do this anymore. Nothing really happens, it is just meandering. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, and Religious bigotry