Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

14 reviews

georgiaabigail's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

You know what, it held up better than I thought it was going to. Edward is much more toxic than I remember as a teenager, but I really enjoyed the reread.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

betonylark's review

dark slow-paced

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

0.25

The Twilight series...

• Is full of Mormon ideology and theology if you know what to look for (I'm exmo, left as a teenager, so I spotted a lot of Mormon influence) - just FYI.
• Glorifies and romanticizes controlling behavior, toxic relationships, stalking, domestic abuse, physical abuse, and SA.
• Depicts women as deprived of full personhood, intelligence, independence, and agency
• Presents various pedophilia-esque relationships in a positive light
• Diminishes the severe problems absent/wishy washy/not properly supportive parents (particularly fathers) cause in their children
• Diminishes the impact of power imbalances on consent in relationships
• Fully inappropriately and very inaccurately appropriates the culture, history, and beliefs of real people who are part of the Native American Quileute Tribe, which is a real tribe (something no white person, and especially a mormon white person, has any right to ever do; if you don't know anything about the history, look up the Mountain Meadows Massacre and Brigham Young's treatment of the Native Americans)

I rated this book 0.25 stars for these reasons, as well as the multitude of writing, character, and plot issues present. There are far better books out there with far better messaging and far better writing too. I would definitely pass up all of Meyer's writing, including "the Host," which is better overall in terms of the above issues but still has a lot of problems with it, particularly when it comes to consent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Vomit, Kidnapping, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Classism

DISCLAIMER: This is a mormon-y series written by a mormon author, and thus it's rather tame in most regards. (Too much so in many ways honestly.) In a way though, that tame-ness makes Twilight even worse, because the harmful messaging (where abuse and SA and stalking are seen as not just acceptable, but actually romantic) can be very subtle at times. Teenagers who read this will often be taking it in subconsciously rather than recognizing and challenging this messaging. That is why I put what I did as trigger warnings. It's not necessarily graphically described, but it is certainly "graphic" in it's romanticization of very alarming and even fully abusive behaviors, from the male characters and the overall narrative in particular.

snowiceblackfruit77's review

dark funny medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

paigeinabook's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sav_22's review

adventurous mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

Decided to reread this, I read it in middle school and used to be a fan but decided to revisit. Whether you like or hate it, its such a landmark in pop culture; I never take it seriously, it’s a fun read if you just like shallow paranormal romances. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

ecravens's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

toastyghosty13's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.0

i forgot how cheesy this book is. i definitely enjoyed the nostalgic part of rereading this for the first time since middle school, and i will probably finish the rest of the series while i am at it. however, i also remember this being better from the last time i read it. 

the romance aspect is exceptionally cheesy and pretty toxic.

2 teenagers falling in love with each other after 1 kiss and both of them being pined after by every girl and guy and school was very cringey and eye roll inducing. bella being creeped on by every guy under the sun was also ridiculous. shout out to alice for being the best character ever

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, and Stalking

Minor: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Suicide attempt

lonely_tardigrade's review

emotional mysterious fast-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? No

1.0

I only reread this to go through and highlight all the signs of abuse. Almost every page had a highlight on it. No idea why this is still considered a romance novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Death, Rape, Sexual content, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

christinewonder's review

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It’s better and a LOT different from the movie, i. e. more light-hearted and “believable” because it doesn’t take itself so seriously.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

lisa_m's review

slow-paced

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

1.5

So I finished Twilight?
I was so ready to be done with it I listened to the last half of the audiobook at 2,55x speed.

Giving Twilight a 1star rating somehow feels so incredibly misogynistic..? I promise I'm not just shitting on something teenage girls love. It is not a good book and I won't fully get into why exactly here, because I just can't be bothered. I already wasted too much time reading this book...

If you like Twilight, maybe do not read this review. I don't want to make you mad, but I really did not have a good time reading it.

It's quite similar to the movie but so much less entertaining. It's just really irritating.
I know I'm not the target audience but I honestly do not think I would have liked it if I read it when I was younger.

I still hate Edward and Bella is boring. We got some more backstory for Alice which was interesting. Besides that though nothing much is new.

The kind of obsession portrayed in this book is ridiculous and honestly not warranted. I don't understand WHY Edward and Bella like each other, except for the fact that they are both 💫different💫...? Bella is so obsessed with Edward pretty much from the first time she sees him and I do not understand it!

I was quite surprised that reading this book actually felt like reading any other mediocre fantasy book. It is truly nothing special. I thought it would at least make me angry, if not make me laugh. It did neither. I got annoyed and bored and sometimes disgusted. That's it.

If you haven't read this book yet, don't. The movie shows you everything you need to know. I promise you're not missing out on anything.
I honestly feel like this was a waste of my time, but at least now I can brag (?) about having read Twilight?
Definitely won't be continuing the series though or reading anything else by Stephenie Meyer. I assume it's only going to get worse.

I feel like Twilight deserves 1.5 stars simply for being such a cult classic that I felt like I missed out on a great experience by not having read it. I thought I could hate-love this like I do the Twilight movies,... but I don't. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, and Gaslighting