Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes: An American Indian Odyssey by Fritz Scholder, Chris Crutcher

11 reviews

theresapizza's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

betweentheshelves's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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There are some issues in this book that hit kind of hard in today's climate, especially the discussions about abortion and the separation of church and state. It's for that reason I'm not surprised that it made its way onto a frequently banned books list, and will certainly make for interesting discussion tonight at book club!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Violence

Moderate: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Abortion

Minor: Confinement, Homophobia, Misogyny

swhite's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence

northviewlocke's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail

kageraven's review against another edition

2.5

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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 Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes is a realistic fiction novel about outcast teenagers. Sarah Byrnes has a face marred by burn scars while Eric Calhoune is overweight. The story is told from Eric’s perspective as it alternates between the present and the past. In the present, Sarah has gone mute and Eric struggles trying to figure out how to help her as he recollects the history of their friendship. It is emotional, dark, and tense. The novel does cover many serious topics such as physical and emotional abuse, bullying, and abortion, and it does so in a way that seems natural for the plot and characters. 

The book comes across as misogynistic, though I begrudgingly admit it did get a bit better by the end of the book. The women are oversexualized and seem pretty one-dimensional even when they have interesting backstories. Many of the characters have a lot of depth and are engaging to unravel, but the personalities of the characters seem underdeveloped. It’s not necessarily a bad book. The flawed characters drive the story, and the complexity of the problems they encounter constitute a compelling plot. It’s thought-provoking and even inspiring to a certain extent. But it was frustrating to read which made it difficult to connect with the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment

ellariawrites's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Misogyny, Suicide, Pregnancy, Abandonment

analea_lucille's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Suicide attempt

b_lownds127's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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One of the singlemost impactful reads of my teen years. 15 years later and I'm still thinking about this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Abortion

kendrakendrac's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Homophobia

necromancer_xxvi's review against another edition

3.75

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Religious bigotry

Moderate: Eating disorder, Abandonment

Minor: Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting