Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Moja mroczna Vanesso

Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Moja mroczna Vanesso by Kate Elizabeth Russell

48 reviews

saanaayrora's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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lindsayhotrod's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad slow-paced

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

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rachreads28's review against another edition

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This book is written well and I understand the importance of it, but I felt physically Ill after the scene where Vanessa stays the night with Mr Strane.

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its_van_vulpen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

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_bailey_reads_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

This book…. Wow. I am stunned by how well written this book is.

There are so many things I could say about this book. I loved it so much. It will always hold a special place in my heart, mostly because it hurt me deeply to my core.

I highly recommend reading this book but only if you are in a good mental health space. It is extremely triggering! I felt very healed by how relatable I found Vanessa at points but mad because of how upset her character made me. She is such a complex and well written character and is such a realistic depiction of someone struggling with PTSD and severe trauma.

Kate Elizabeth Russell, did a phenomenal job at depicting what a real therapist & client relationship actually looks and sounds like. The first accurate one I’ve ever read in a book. It blew me away. Ruby is Vanessa’s therapist. The dynamic between the two characters was brilliant and very thought out and realistic! The language and descriptions in this novel are so beautiful and made me my heart hurt.

It’s the most disturbing book I’ve ever read

Warning ** Do Not Read if you are in a bad mental health space. Please be gentle if you have gone through any type of abuse. I wish someone would’ve warned me before reading. It’s HIGHLY triggering.

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amsswim's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I think a lot of people could benefit from reading this (not to get political, ahem) , but I'm afraid they would only see what they want to see in Vanessa's character and take her for exactly what she says they will in the book. I thought this book had not only an important story to tell, but it was told incredibly well. The time jumps of Vanessa's high school experience to her "modern day", #MeToo era day-to-day gave the reader a large perspective of the stages of trauma and stages of abuse.

As a someone who has experienced different kinds of abuse and trauma, I very much related with many themes. I would recommend looking through warnings and triggers contained here if you'd like to read, some themes may be upsetting for other survivors of similar experiences. I recommend to all however.

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orndal's review against another edition

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reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

bit unsure, actually. To begin with i didn't really like it - Vanessa is dumb and naïve, get believes herself to be extraordinarily clever. She's told she has a depressive personality and has to look it up, so she can't be that clever.
But then again, who doesn't think they're superior at 15? and isn't that exactly what allows Strane to prey on her?
After the abuse she falls apart, yet she struggles to accept that Strane has any responsibility, because she doesn't want to be seen as a victim. Again, rather relatable, though it's incredibly infuriating.

Sadly though, it's just not well written. It doesn't flow well, the language doesn't really add up - i especially noticed a few "difficult" words just being thrown in wherever, but they don't really fit. But then again, that might be Vanessa's fault, as it's told in first person perspective. (which honestly limits how good a book can be, in my opinion.)

Thing is, the themes in this book are very grown up, there's an underlying need for political and intellectual awareness (lolita references aside), but the book itself is in no way shape or form written for an adult, so who is this really for??

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