Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Push by Ashley Audrain

150 reviews

marisabenn's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

What a debut, holy moly. One of the best opening and ending lines I have read in recent memory. The story is written with the beautiful normalcy of everyday language. It feels like you're hearing a person confide in you about their struggles. You get lost within the world, feeling like you're there experiencing and seeing these stories happen.

Not a 5 star read because I both love and hate the ambiguity. I wanted to know what really happened, but that's not how the story is meant to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Car accident, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Infidelity, Abortion, and Stalking

Minor: Bullying, Dementia, Self harm, Suicide, Abortion, and Miscarriage

batcaves's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Abandonment, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship

kelly_e's review

dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

2.75

Title: The Push
Author: Ashley Audrain
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 2.75
Pub Date: January 5, 2021

T H R E E • W O R D S

Visceral • Unsettling • Complex

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Blythe is sure she will be the nurturing and comforting mother she never had. But in the midst of the exhausting early months, and incapable of connecting with her newborn daughter, she is convinced something is wrong with Violet. When she shares her concerns with her husband, he dismisses her claims.

When Blythe gives birth to her son, Sam, the situation is very different, and it's everything she always imagined a mother/child relationship to be. When their lives change on a dime, it will force them to face the truth.

💭 T H O U G H T S

The hype had definitely subsided when I finally picked up The Push, unfortunately it stilled influenced my reading experience and it ended up not living up to all my expectations.

What I like:
- I appreciated the honest insight and portrayal of the expectations versus the realities of motherhood, yet as a childless woman I didn't connect to the plot line.
- The plot line of multi-generational trauma
- Written as a letter, I thought the format was clever. And it was obvious that Audrain is a strong writer.

What I didn't like:
- The plot delivers quite a few stereotypes but I don't know that it leaves us a whole lot further ahead in our understanding, but rather upholds stigmas that can be detrimental to mental health awareness.
- I believe I'd have liked it more if the ending was different. For me, the ending felt like it was used for shock value rather than a natural resolution.

At the end of the day, I wouldn't call this a thriller, rather it's a psychological drama that is sure to spark discussion. But because the plot has been so overdone, The Push is easily forgettable to me.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers looking for a compulsive read
• bookclubs

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"A mother’s heart breaks a million ways in her lifetime." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Child abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Miscarriage, Abortion, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Confinement, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Medical content, and Bullying

Minor: Blood, Sexual content, Cursing, Stalking, Death of parent, and Car accident

postpartum depression

catarina_fernandes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Grief, Child death, Mental illness, and Murder

fictionlostandfound's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.25

The Push is a story of one woman trying to break the cycle of multi-generational dysfunction and trauma associated with motherhood, specifically the relationship between mothers and their daughters. But the cycle is harder to break when your concerns are dismissed as typical new mom jitters.

This psychological drama is a tense read that had me feeling uncomfortable from the very beginning as the author dives into the darkest fears of parenting with a first person narrative; instantly going where your mind refused to travel because it is so dark. This book left me emotionally drained, uncomfortable, and yet oddly satisfied. Would definitely recommend!

I highly suggest checking trigger warnings before diving in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Self harm, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Death, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Blood, Addiction, Grief, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

lilacwhisker's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

A good read about how those with bad mothers are likely to become bad mothers themselves.

I honestly don’t really think Violet was evil or insane or anything. I think Blythe just convinced herself that she was to justify the fact that Blythe herself is just a bad mom, and hates her because Blythe’s own mother hated her.

 

Pretty good read and fast paced!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Infidelity, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Miscarriage, and Abortion

Minor: Dementia

eeeeva's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion and Child death

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit and Excrement

ltulisiak's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

It was a difficult, challenging read, but I was engaged the entire time. There was definitely room for improvement- lots of repeating where instead more elaboration would have been useful. But still enjoyable. Would likely a difficult read for parents/grandparents, or those with young children in their lives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Grief

lifeofchrstnlvly's review against another edition

dark sad fast-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

4.5

3 words: dark, unsettling, addictive

Short chapters made it easy to read.
Emotions were raw.
Writing was gripping.

I read this is one sitting. It's a disturbing read, but worth it. It goes into the unspoken realities of being a wife, but most specifically motherhood. I love an unreliable narrator and Blythe can be categorized as one. This is categorized as a psychological thriller, but I think it's more along the lines of psychological family drama. This is Ashley Audrain's debut novel, and I can't wait for the next books she'll write. I don't want to spoil it and it's better if you go in blind, so here's the last part of the blurb just to be safe:

The Push is a tour de force you will read in a sitting, an utterly immersive novel that will challenge everything you think about motherhood, about what we owe our children, and about what if feels like when women are not believed.

Read it if you haven't already, but as usual, check trigger warnings first. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Murder, Suicide, Abortion, and Death of parent

Minor: Self harm, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

4.75 because I needed just a little more from the ending. Otherwise—WHAT A TWISTY, CREEPY, SICKENING RIDE OF CREATION AND DEMISE.

I was hooked immediately and never let go. The writing was smart and breezy and blunt and chilling, the chapters were deliciously short, the characters were multifaceted and unhinged, the plot was searing, uncomfortable, explosive. Darkly fantastic.

“The Push” refers, specifically, to one tragic incident in the main character’s life, but to me it was also a direct metaphor for all of the different types of motherhood represented in the story. How much children shape our worlds, the very good parts and, in this novel’s case, the traumatic and the sinister. 

If you haven’t already, pick this up ASAP. You won’t be able to put it down until the very last page.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Abandonment, Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Violence, Mental illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Stalking, and Suicide

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Stalking, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Racism, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Miscarriage, Mass/school shootings, and Dementia