Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Under Her Care by Lucinda Berry

7 reviews

meghan_w's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book is reallllly hard to rate. I went with 4 stars because it kept me hooked and was really interesting! The reason it’s hard to rate is it also nails the disturbing aspect of psychological thrillers. It was hard to read some of the content, but it was still worth the read! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

astoriareader's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

SYNOPSIS

• On a summer day in Alabama, the someone has murdered the mayor’s wife.
• Unfortunately, the Southerners are starting to blame Mason, an autistic teen & son of local socialite Genevieve Hill, who was found standing next to the body.
• The police recruit Casey Walker as a consultant on the case. Casey is a therapist that specializes in working with autistic children, and she also has a 9 year old autistic kid of her own.
• Casey begins to grow suspicious that Genevieve is doing more than just protecting her son.

MY THOUGHTS

• Lucinda is one of my favorites! I’ve read 8 total by her so far (The Perfect Child, Saving Noah, The Best of Friends, When She Returned, Phantom Limb, Keep Your Friends Close, If You Tell A Lie, & Under Her Care).
• Although I am not autistic myself & I won’t pretend to speak for the autistic community, I wanted to give a trigger warning here. It's my understanding that Lucinda Berry is a licensed clinical psychologist, and I'm surprised she didn't reach out to get some perspectives from autistic individuals before publishing. In the book, there's a section where a character lectures a police officer, saying that he shouldn't use the phrase "autistic kids," but should say "kids with autism" instead. This theme is carried on throughout the book. While some autistic folks may prefer person-first language, it’s my understanding that most person identity-first language. I was disappointed, and since this is such a delicate topic, I think it could be handled better. If this is trigger, I would avoid this book.
• Along same lines, there are some other controversial & potentially triggering topics relating to ASD (e.g., ABA, masking, eye contact).
• Berry’s writing is great, but didn’t enjoy this as much as her others. I usually rate her 4-5. Don’t think I have ever rated her books below a 4. Felt like there were too many loose ends. 

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️3 stars. 8th Lucinda Berry book I’ve read & least favorite. Check for triggers, particularly re: ASD.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Confinement, Mental illness, and Abandonment

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug abuse and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

lostinalibrary's review against another edition

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Ableism

Minor: Ableism

chrisp189's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Child abuse

brookey8888's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This one was good. I didn’t see a lot of it shocking, but the ending kind of was. This was a disturbing read, but an interesting look at the characters. I don’t know if me and this author vibe the greatest because this is the second book of hers I’ve read and I didn’t like either endings. They just feel so unfinished and rushed. I did enjoy this one a lot more than the other of hers I’ve read. One of the characters in this wasn’t unbearable so I was able to enjoy it, and the other was crazy so it was interesting to read that POV. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

ariannadanyel's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Medical content

Moderate: Ableism and Torture

h_rg98's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.25

Whilst you can class it as a good thriller its content surrounding autism is extremely questionable. Reading it as an autistic person was hard.

Person first language, ABA etc.

Other than that I thought it was generally a good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Ableism