Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

149 reviews

andrea_lachance's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

Wow. Just wow. I don't have the words to explain how much I love this book. I relate so much to Linus Baker's struggle with living the comfortable mundane and entering the wonderful unknown. And any book that can bring me to tears over Lucifer in a 6-year-old's body deserves high praise. The House in the Cerulean Sea really does feel like a big gay blanket. Queerness does hold a lot of tragedy and darkness, but any book that can speak to the inherent joy and found family that develops in queer spaces deserves to be read by anyone.

I've just come off a Riordan reading spree, and this book feels like it would be great for 16+ year-olds who love Riordan's books. I'm surprised/pleased that this is a book marketed as Adult Fiction with nothing content-wise that would immediately flag it as Adult. I think the older age of the protagonist - Linus - is what pushes it there but if OFMD is any indication, young people crave the stories of middle-aged queer folk finding love. Cerulean can and should be read by anyone. It's an easy, light read with a strong emotional punch that hits that found family sweet spot. 

This whole review has absolutely no direction.

I love this book. That is all.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse and Physical abuse

ravenpuff's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Religious bigotry

birdeynamnam's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

julierambaeck's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

I wanted to cry in every chapter because of the wholesomeness! Probably the cutest book I have ever read! Loved it loved it loved it!!!!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Death of parent

lwprice1209's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing 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? Yes

5.0

Such a sweet book! Highly recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Physical abuse

I added all of those content warnings which make this book sound upsetting, but it’s so lovely and hopeful! Read it!

mags_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed this book, but found the dialogue rather stilted and preachy.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Racism, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Gore, Blood, Body horror, and Animal death

maresuju's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Grief, Confinement, and Fatphobia

Minor: Physical abuse and Emotional abuse

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

Read For:

Fantasy

Slow Burn

Found Family

Idiots in Love

Happy Ending

Think Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children vibes but kinda queer.  I just felt kinda neutral about it.  The humor was okay, the characters were okay, and the setting was kinda meh.  I just felt like I had to force myself to keep reading and if I didn’t already own the book I would have stopped.  Also, I thought there would be more queer rep to be honest so that was kinda disappointing.  Not to mention the fatphobia.

I wasn’t going to read this given the reviews I’ve been seeing recently, however, I already own the first two books so I figured I’d see if it was as bad as some of the reviews were saying.  And honestly, I just didn’t understand the hype about it.  Even not knowing what the book was based on it was barely a 3-star rating for me, it just fell flat to me.

However, learning that this was based on the Sixties Scoop and how the author decided to turn what was a cruel and tragic piece of history he read about on Wikipedia about how the Canadian government removed a bunch of indigenous children from their literal homes and away from their family only to be adopted to white, middle-class families and he then took that information and basically turned it into a happy little fantasy where the kids live not in an “orphanage” but a “home” like, dude, why?

This kind of thing is still something native people are dealing with and as a white person, it should not be something you’re involved in like this.  In America the Supreme Court literally is going to be voting soon on overturning ICWA so states can regain control to remove Native children from their homes and families, this isn’t just some fantasy.  This story could have been written way better and in a way that did romanticize trauma and make light of a literal genocide.

I just wouldn’t recommend this one.  There are some links on where I got my information from if you’re interested along with two reviews I think do a better job of explaining this than I did.

Links:

Source: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A617930246/ITBC?u=uvictoria&sid=bookmark-ITBC&xid=0efbabda

Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixties_Scoop

Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4032060130

Another Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3601407534

Rep: Achillean, Queer MC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Racism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Grief, Homophobia, and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Cannibalism, Murder, Death, Animal death, and Blood

tiernanhunter's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Bullying, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, and Child abuse

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Body shaming, and Violence

abookwormspov's review against another edition

lighthearted 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Death, Racism, Torture, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse