Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones

53 reviews

kearac's review

dark

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Excrement, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

signediza's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, and Toxic relationship

breannamarie619's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gun violence, Incest, Murder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Vomit, and Racial slurs

sharese_reads's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️How the One Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones. 

Today was a day y’all. It went from a tornado warning and threats of hail to this double rainbow in quick turn around. And I finished this powerhouse of a book. 

I am stunned by the depth, beauty, atrocity, brevity and expansion of this book. @cheriejoneswrites brings you to Baxter’s Beach, brings you into the bodies, minds, mouth, hearts, under the fingernails, into the bowels of the Bajans featured in this book. I am not sure I’ve read a book that has immersed me into the setting as this one did. 

There is A LOT going on in these brief 278 pages. It starts with a birth, proceeds with a death and another death and another death and an almost death and ends with one escape another incarceration. Everything bad you can think of happens in this book- it is not for those that have triggers of abuse, death of any age, or sexual assault of any kind (and I’m sure I’m missing some). But in the end it is a book about people. People who experience the worst of humanity which unfortunately is often the majority of humanity. And Ms. Jones writes it plainly and honestly while doing so in the language of her native country. The perspective and narration styles change throughout the book which at first I thought would be distracting but in the end I think enhanced the immersion. 

I appreciated so much about this book and can’t wait to hear others’ perspectives with @bookofcinz book club this month. This book has been on my radar since she posted it last year. Thank you @bliss_books_wine_kc for making it available to me in your shop. I will definitely be adding it to my personal collection and suggest anyone do the same. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape

birdbrainbooks's review

challenging dark sad tense slow-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

4.0

Wow. This book is a tragedy from start to finish. Brilliantly written. I felt so heartbroken for some of the characters and so angry at others. It’s much more intense than I expected.
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The way Jones conveys the inner workings of an abused woman’s mind, how she has to view every item in her home and assess it for its ability to inflict pain, how she has to tiptoe constantly around anything that might anger her husband, is done painfully well.
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The way she reveals the complicated nature of power dynamics between people, particularly between men and women—and the way she explores generational trauma and how that affects who you become—is masterful.
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My main issues were that the pace was a bit slow and the sequence of events and glimpses into other character’s lives could have been tighter. I found myself not really thinking about the book when I wasn’t actively reading it, or forgetting about some characters after having been drawn into their story chapters before.
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All in all, pick this one up but prepare yourself—and I will absolutely be following Cherie Jones in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Infidelity

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Infertility, Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, Stalking, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

livengoodreads's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Child death

jesm's review

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, and Physical abuse

lisabreads's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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

3.75

 Thank you @harpercollinsca and @netgalley for a copy of How The One Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones. All opinions are my own.

Strong content warnings for domestic and sexual abuse including incest mentioned off page. DM for specifics if you need them.

How The One Armed Sister Sweeps Her House was an incredible read. Told from many perspectives, it’s the story of women and their struggles in a resort town of Baxter Beach, Barbados. One of the main characters is Lala who spends her days braiding hair on the beach. Lala lives with her abusive petty criminal husband and she broke my heart. The characters in this novel were so well developed and complex and yet the plot moves along at a decent pace so you never want to put it down. Highly recommend this read if you don’t mind something heavier. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Incest, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

theresenatalie's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Incest

megtristao's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Oof. This is the type of story 2015 Megan would have <i>loved</i>. And it was an excellent book, but there was so much trauma, so make sure you're in the right frame of mind to pick it up. The book follows several characters in the aftermath of the murder of a white tourist in a small beach town on Barbados. I particularly appreciated how the author occasionally included chapters about other minor characters in the story, or went back in time to explain certain characters' childhoods or experiences of their family members, which created an excellent multigenerational sense of the town and its inhabitants.

Note on the audio: I don't typically listen to literary fiction on audio, but this was one of Libro.fm's ALC offerings so I decided to try it. The narrator was fantastic and I actually listened to the book close to regular speed (I'm usually a 1.5-2x listener), partly because of the narrator's accent and partly to keep the tension taut. There were times I was listening and thinking, "Wow I'm glad I'm not reading this on the page because I'd be so tempted to look ahead to see if this turns out okay!!" *heart beats quickly*

Thanks to Libro.fm for a free advance listening copy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse