Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

A Map to the Sun by Sloane Leong

10 reviews

escapinginpaper's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

A coming-of-age story about the angst of teenage-hood, following a group of friends who struggle with their separate difficult home lives and traumas, and how they bond with each other and find commonality through playing together on their basketball team. The story focuses on two girls in particular: 

• Ren, an LA native, whose older sister struggles with drug addiction, and whose parents just got divorced over it.
• Luna, a free-spirited girl from Hawaii, who has to return there suddenly when her mother becomes very ill. 

Ren and Luna become fast friends one summer before high school starts, they bond over their mutual love of basketball and the ocean. Ren is upset with Luna's sudden departure back to Hawaii, and her lack of communication. When Luna returns later, she's ready to pick up where they left off, but Ren, not so much. They find themselves flung together when their impoverished high school starts a basketball team, and both they and others in their friend group all join. 

The narrative in this story felt a bit disjointed, and I had a hard time following it at times because of all the different plotlines, and sometimes, because of the art style, it was difficult to tell the characters apart. I also felt the resolution was too quick and simple, especially considering the main problems that took up the majority of the story.

I did enjoy the tenderness of the coming-of-age aspects, which felt realistic and relatable despite the experience of being a teenager is getting to be a while ago for me. Also, 10/10 for use of color in the artwork, this book is a scream of color and I really loved just flipping through. Color definitely acts as a divider for the story – as a scene or as the plot shifts, the colors change and I really enjoyed that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Bullying, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Death of parent, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug use, Dysphoria, Sexism, Alcohol, Addiction, Drug abuse, Grief, and Death

Minor: Blood, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Cursing

One of the characters is a minor who smokes, another minor consumes alcohol on-page through several scenes. Several of the characters (all minors) attend a house party. An overweight character struggles with bullying, body image and her relationship with food on-page throughout the book.

Another minor is depicted in a sexual relationship with a teacher, with on-page scenes involving kissing, and with off-page sexual activity implied.

One character commits self-harm on-page in reaction to an abusive parent.

Ren's sister is drug addicted and appears ~halfway through the book. She manipulates their father, emotionally abuses Ren, steals from them, and sets the house on fire at the end. It's implied her sister is in an abusive relationship with someone, but the abuse occurs off-page.

town_scar's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Dysphoria, Bullying, Body shaming, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Addiction, Infidelity, Drug abuse, Transphobia, and Drug use

justacurse's review

medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Fatphobia

gigireadswithkiki's review

emotional funny tense medium-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

4.0

Gotta love a great story with a cast comprised entirely of POC! The racially diverse characters--Ren (who is Black), Luna (who is Hawaiian-Chinese), Jetta (who is Native-American and Latinx), Nell (who is Jamaican), and So-Young (who is Korean)--were such a breath of fresh air, with each and every character distinct and multi-faceted. In line with diversity, this book also helped me realize the stark absence fat characters were from sports-centered stories until this book, and I appreciated the inclusion of Nell for this, and many other, reasons. 

Sloane Leong's use of bright vibrant hues was great, although at times it does make it difficult to differentiate between some of the characters. Additionally, some of the action-based basketball scenes were a little difficult to follow, but the thought bubble snippets are really nice for helping keep pace with all the games. 

Overall, I really liked that this story is ultimately built around the idea of meeting people where they're at. I think it's an important topic for readers of all ages and I would recommend it to others, but, as always, definitely check out the content warnings beforehand as there are a couple scenes that aren't for the faint of heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Domestic abuse

fox's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Fatphobia, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Racism, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse

eamily's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Abandonment, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Dysphoria, Self harm, and Sexism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, and Vomit

robinks's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I LOVED the colors and illustrations! The stories of all the main characters are all sad but real, and they cover a wide range of issues that teens could face. The characters are also very diverse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Death of parent and Vomit

lobstertelephone's review

emotional sad tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Fatphobia, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, and Adult/minor relationship

seawarrior's review

emotional reflective relaxing tense medium-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

5.0

This is one of the most beautiful and striking comics I've ever read. The colors are incredibly vibrant and atmospheric, which helps draw you into the story of these girls from the very first page.

I loved that each of the main girls were written with messy, raw struggles that were shown to affect them individually, and the team as a whole. Watching them come to terms with some of the toxicity in their lives and their own mindsets and grow into stronger people was very rewarding. I also loved that the end of the book functioned like a new beginning for these characters, since they came to important realizations about themselves and their relationships but didn't neatly wrap up every issue they now knew they needed to approach. However, Ren's speech at the end of the story is inspiring, and left me with a sense of reassurance that she has developed a kinder perspective in life that will help her move forward from the trauma she has just endured and rely on others more than she was willing to previously.

All around I really loved both the writing and art of this comic. I'd go as far as to call it a masterpiece. I feel that it takes an incredible skill to write an ensemble of characters all with the complexities of real people, and to create art that sets mood and tone as well as Leong has in this work. I recommend this comic to anyone looking to experience a truly unforgettable graphic novel, and look forward to reading it again myself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

pucksandpaperbacks's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A slice of life, coming-of-age graphic novel about Black, Brown, Asian, & Hawaiian girls existing in their 9th-grade year of high school. The girls all bond through basketball and learning the game together. There are great conversations in this, especially about girl's sports teams not being seen as important as opposed to boy's teams. The illustrations were beautiful and intricate!

However, the cast of characters was very large and I tended to get confused at times trying to keep up with the large cast. 

I really enjoyed this one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Misogyny