Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Dogs of Summer by Andrea Abreu

9 reviews

llorona's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Violence, Colonisation, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Fatphobia, Rape, Child death, Body shaming, Excrement, Emotional abuse, and Blood

abbie_'s review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

3.5

Tween girls being a tad feral - I know this word is overused a lot these days when a book is about women/girls doing things slightly outside the accepted norm, but to be fair, one of them does shit in a box and blame it on a dog. 

Abreu does an excellent job of conveying the atmosphere of a sleepy village in the Canary Islands, the heat of the summer, the volcanic landscape, the striking disparity that exists between locals and tourists. We follow two girls, Isora and Shit (yes, idk either), who embody toxic tween girl relationships. They constantly cross boundaries, obsessed with one another, then enemies, leading one another to dangerous situations, being each other's be-all-and-end-all, not speaking for days, weeks. There are physical fights, awful first sexual experiences, overwhelming feelings. 

And yet, all that, and I felt slightly at a remove from the text itself. I agree with some other reviewers that the girls often came across as older than they were, though I'm also aware that girls are forced to grow up quicker than boys. 

Crude and atmospheric, vulgar and sticky. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Sexual assault and Violence

jasminermelyn's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Eating disorder, and Excrement

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Death

readinglibraesq's review against another edition

fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Sexual content, Rape, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Violence, Child death, and Death of parent

taylorsevalia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Cannibalism, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Abandonment

savvylit's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

Dogs of Summer is a fast-paced novel about growing pains, toxic friendships, sexual awakening, and violence. Andrea Abreu captures the feelings and frustrations of growing up so effectively that I often felt uncomfortable - like I was reading a ten-year-old's journal. I genuinely cringed as I imagined their antics and interactions with friends. Dogs of Summer is a reminder that children can be cruel as often as they can be incredibly intuitive.

One of the primary highlights of this novel is Abreu's writing style. Translator Julia Sanches has maintained so many playful and downright funny slang terms that both girls use. The slang and matter-of-fact narration are what really make this book feel like an honest peek into someone else's childhood.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Toxic friendship

paperknotbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective tense medium-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

5.0

My feelings about this book are complicated: a small part of me thinks “ew,” but it’s full of endearment. There’s so much innocence to the narrative voice, that I can’t help but feel charmed. There’s a lot of descriptions of shit, and wedgie picking, and awkward sexual experiences, but they’re compared to quietness of Barbies, or the colorful markers, or whatever is inside that box of licorice.

The story covers little snippets from a summer in the early aughts, with focus on minute details from our 10 year old narrator’s complicated friendship with a girl from her neighborhood named Isora. For example, a chapter could be called “Jesus’s Little Head,” which is a small detail of an engraving on the headboard of her friend’s dead mother, and the story is about an early childhood lesbian experience.

This book won’t mesh with you, if you’re squeamish about basic bodily functions, because there are a lot, and they are… I guess graphic is the word I want here. I will not forget this book, for sure!

Thank you NetGalley and Astra House for allowing me to consume this amazing book… even though I kind of forgot I had it and let the license expire, but I bought the book before I realized the license expired. Oops! It was grand anyway!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Excrement, Vomit, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, and Blood

aimsro's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Rape, and Violence

kirstylana_'s review

emotional funny reflective sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Vomit, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Violence, and Fatphobia

Minor: Suicide and Child abuse