Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Moja mroczna Vanesso by Kate Elizabeth Russell

31 reviews

lay_kone's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Bullying, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Rape, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal cruelty

nineinchnails's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

i feel weird reviewing and even rating this book considering the subject matter because even though it's technically fiction it feels horribly invasive, like reading someone's diary. it is very well written with beautiful prose and a protagonist who is extremely real and raw. the book did run a little long, especially considering there was little character development outside of vanessa but overall it was an extremely gripping read.

i would not recommend reading this as a survivor of rape and especially of child sexual abuse, more because of how adamant vanessa is that she was not abused than how graphic the abuse is written. it can be very hard to stomach her constant romanticisation and denial of strane's abuse, despite how obvious it us to us as readers that he manipulated her. 'manipulate' does not feel like anywhere near as strong of a word to portray how he controlled and exploited her.

vanessa is not a 'perfect victim' and she struggles with this well into adulthood; the idea that a woman must be perfectly chaste, perfectly humble, perfectly innocent, and perfectly untouched by the world to be believed or taken seriously as a victim is one that permeates our society to this day. what was she wearing?, she lead him on, she was asking for it, she wanted it. this novel does an incredible job at giving a voice to the many survivors who (unsurprisingly) don't fit that mould and showing a different perspective. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Physical abuse, Death, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Infidelity, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Classism, Drug abuse, Grief, Body horror, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Mass/school shootings, and Vomit

Grooming, Dissociation, Post traumatic stress disorder, Child sexual abuse, and Student/teacher relationship

emamazee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I went into this book aware that it had some heavy subject matter as the main plot point. It's overly graphic scenes where juxtaposed with some beautiful imagery when describing the character's dissociation from traumatic events. I was hopeful that there would be a redemptive ending but was left disappointed. To place a lighthearted view to a dark, emotionally-exhausting narrative, my take away is that adopting a dog will heal all emotional scars and anyone who is mean to a dog is inherently evil. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, and Misogyny

Minor: Animal cruelty, Mass/school shootings, and Grief

l_prelas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Pedophilia, Rape, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Animal cruelty

churroeon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.5

made me cry so many times.... ugh :((( but it felt slow in the middle but towards the end i was HOOKED. very heavy to read for sure, but i recommend

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Animal cruelty

amyl0's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Rape

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

lilacwhisker's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.5

pretty much every review talking about this book says it’s a “conversation-starter", and after reading this thing i understand why. my dark vanessa is a story about a girl who gets groomed by her teacher, but won't admit she was sexually abused. the whole thing (especially the start) is horrifying because of the events that occur but also because of vanessa's insistence that she wanted the whole thing to happen to her. this extra layer of denial is what makes this whole book so much more sad— seeing her call what they have "love" made me want to vomit, but i do think this can be accurate to how a lot of victims can feel. it's clear that russell did her research on this kind of abuse and trauma, and throughout we come to see how complicated both vanessa and her abuser are. it did get a little repetitive near the end, but this makes sense considering how such abuse works in cycles, and the length of their relationship. it really was a crazy book, and somewhat reminds me of notes on an execution by danya kukafka

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, and Rape

Moderate: Alcohol and Stalking

Minor: Classism, Death of parent, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Addiction, and Animal death

coffeekitaab's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Rape, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

korolevakotykiv's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Rape, Pedophilia, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual content

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Alcohol, Classism, Death of parent, and Drug use

prince_philips_butthole's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring 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: Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Body shaming, Mass/school shootings, Pedophilia, Rape, Vomit, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship