Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste

9 reviews

stindex's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, War, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Violence, Death, Genocide, and Medical content

kittyka0s's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Rape, Sexual violence, War, Pedophilia, Torture, Physical abuse, Murder, Death, Misogyny, Child abuse, Gun violence, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

paperquilt's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Death, Murder, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and War

popcornreading's review against another edition

This was way too lyrical for my tastes. Everything is written in metaphor to the point where I don’t understand how a character moved from point a to b. It was exhausting to decipher. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Child abuse, and War

zoes_human's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad

4.0

A beautifully written story of Ethiopia's fight against Mussolini's invasion. It is brutal and heartbreaking, but I don't think the truth of war can be told in any other way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Violence, and War

Minor: Antisemitism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Death, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

andrea_gagne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Excrement and Gore

daisymaytwizell's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

I listened to the audiobook of this, and while that helped me as a white person learn how to pronounce the names/places, I do think that with all the shifts in time and perspective it would be a much easier read with a physical copy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, Misogyny, and Antisemitism

Minor: Sexual violence

Mengiste has a fantastic balance between communicating the horrors of war, without making the descriptions gratuitous.

curatoriallyyours's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The positives: I learnt a lot from reading this book, even though it is a work of fiction, about Ethiopia and the Italian invasion under Mussolini. I intend to read some non-fiction on this topic as a result of reading this story. 

The negatives: Though I pitied the main character for all she endured, I did not warm to her. The author's style was also quite off-putting and made it hard for me to sink into the narrative until well into the book. If I hadn't been reading this as the final book in a reading challenge (with only a few days to go) I'd probably have abandoned it. The author's refusal to use speech marks to denote speech baffled me and made me resentful for the re-reading I needed to do every time I realised someone had started speaking without the usual indication that this was the case. I don't care to read any more from this author as a result. 

I feel that the story itself was worthwhile but the author's style really bothered me throughout the book and stopped me from ever truly being enveloped in the narrative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Excrement, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Antisemitism and Drug use

audree's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Child abuse