Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

If You Tell by Gregg Olsen

90 reviews

alex_bousquet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

2.5

Not that great of writing. I'm actually mad at how the girls waited so long to finally speak up about the horrors that took place in the home. Never bothering to tell anyone at school, Sammi going and telling Shelly that Shane had photos of Cathy. No one deserved to die and could of been avoided

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Medical trauma, and Confinement

nuuamuikkunen's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

2.75

Tykkään siitä miten Gregg Olsen kirjottaa tositapahtumista kuin ne ois fiktiota. Mutta se misogynian ja fat shaming oli ihan överiä tässä kirjassa! Et naiset haluaa vaan olla äitejä ja jos lihot 10 kiloa oot ihan kamalan läski. Yök.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Torture, Slavery, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Murder, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Confinement, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Death, Gore, Domestic abuse, Child death, and Bullying

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Animal cruelty

Minor: Medical content, Terminal illness, and Cancer

marypetrushko's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Murder, Homophobia, Torture, Gaslighting, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

kahbarrow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Medical content, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Murder, Homophobia, Blood, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Bullying, Body shaming, Suicide, Fatphobia, Death, and Sexual content

priscillarobock's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Medical content, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Slavery, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Bullying, and Toxic relationship

tishas_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

3.5

This book was a hard read. Based on a true story, it was a sad, infuriating and difficult 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Child abuse

stacym's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Murder, Physical abuse, and Torture

alexboutilierreed's review against another edition

dark sad

4.0

Michelle knotek is the actual devil. She deserves to be in prison forever. Dave is dumb as rocks. This story is incredibly heartbreaking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Child abuse, Murder, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

maddness22's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

0.25

I do not respect this book in the slightest. It's an attempt to capitalize on one family's horrible tragedy during the height of the true crime fascination. This is poorly written without any substance to the cruelty it outlines. There's no additional psychological insight into the mother's sadistic nature, no actual mention of the "bonds of sisterhood" until the final 10% of the book and even then it's a rather weak grab, and the timeline of events is written in the worst and most confusing manner. This was literally just composed for shock value and really only lists the acts of crimes committed by the narcissistic and sadistic mother and her pathetic husband. 

If it was meant as a warning for Shelly's release or even as a toolkit for others to recognize how severe abuse can be so subtle in its nature to integrate so fully in a victim's life, the message could've been conveyed with about 200 less pages and repetitive drawn out torture scenes. However, these lessons are barely conveyed successfully anyways. The writing is vague, confusing, and the author truly uses the word "niggled" un-ironically at one point. Like? Seriously? That's not even a real word and it sounds childish at best. 

Skip this shock value torture nonsense. Just know their mother was vile and we need to believe in victims. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

csmoke85's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Domestic abuse, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship