Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

As irmãs Blue + brindes by Coco Mellors

14 reviews

lilyevy13's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, and Physical abuse

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Death of parent

enterpricicle's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

this is the book for you if 
you prefer the traditional interpretation of "blood is thicker than water" to "the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb". 
needless to say, that's not me. 

i just could not connect to the characters at all. the book constantly talks about their amazing sisterly bond but didn't show it to me in a way i understood. i also didn't understand the motivations behind the characters' behaviour, so i got frustrated at their self-destructiveness (which otherwise could have been a believable reaction to their grief). i found them to be stereotypical in many ways. 
throughout the book, it felt like things just happen because they have to. it's heavy on the sibling tropes, there aren't really any surprising turns and everything wraps up a little too neatly for my taste. 

someone out there will live vicariously through these reckless and broken sisters, rise and fall with them, revel in their sibling relationship, feel like they overcome their generational trauma and experience catharsis along with them. 

i'm disappointed that it wasn't me. i just wanted more from this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual assault

letje's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

The sisters navigate grief and female pain. I liked the way endometriosis, an often overlooked illness, and the impact of sexual assault were addresed without playing it out for shock value. 

I wanna highlight the portrayal of the father, which I found powerful. He was a very big presence in the sisters life and had a huge impact on their development.

However, he was absent for the entire book.

His presence seemed to have a bigger impact on the sisters than his absence and I feel like the opposite was true with their sister Nicky. 

I did find Bonnies chapters sort of boring compared to Luckys and Averys and I didnt like how some of the character traits of the sisters and their relationship dynamics were described rather than shown actually play out. I like getting to know a character throughout the book instead of reading an introduction to them which was at times quite repetitive (especially Nickys character). 

The book really drew me in with its lyrical description of emotions and external and internal conflicts of the sisters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Sexual assault

supermormongirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

lizziegracehinde's review against another edition

emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Child abuse and Death of parent

welshgirlreads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

5.0

This is one of those books I know I’m going to be thinking about for a long time. It gave me so much to think about and question. The characters were very real, all imperfect in their own way, flawed but with a desire and need for change. I loved the writing style and how each chapter focused on a character it helped the book/storyline move forward without you getting bored as the narrative was constantly changing. 

It was brilliant to see endometriosis mentioned in the book - although my only qualm is that there seemed to be a few mentions of a hysterectomy and the suggestion that this would have solved/helped with the Nicky’s pain if she had of decided to go ahead with the surgery. A hysterectomy offers no guarentee of pain relief as endometriosis grows outside of the womb. As someone who lives with the condition I found it quite difficult and emotional to read in places and could relate to the way Nicky had done such a good job of hiding her pain from her loved ones. It would have been great to have had even just one chapter from her POV. 

On saying this Blue Sisters is still one of my favourite reads of 2024 and will be recommending to others! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

ajm2013's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Child abuse

oliviabutler's review against another edition

emotional 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

3.75

As an eldest sister, I was hooked from the very start. The characters were complex and loveable, with heartaches I could feel in my own chest. I enjoyed Cleopatra and Frankenstein, but I loved this one! I look forward to reading more from Mellors. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Grief, and Alcohol

j_yarbrough's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Alcohol

gwenswoons's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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 was good — it came to me as part of a monthly book subscription I have with a literary fiction-ish bent, and it definitely fit that bill. The prologue immediately captured me; I love a complicated-family saga (or a complicated family saga, true either way), and I loved the immediate characterizations of the different sisters.

I struggled at points to stay really engaged with the book. I actually love that it basically does nothing but watch our main characters reckon with grief, but to my reading there were so many moments that I felt could have been crafted ever so slightly more specifically: specific repetition done either less often or more intentionally; inconsistencies of voice that felt again less intentional than they might be (particularly in the back and forth American/British-ness of certain characters and relationships); a good number of typos, oddly. I don’t often think about this stuff but I guess I felt that as good as this is, there was an even more special book within reach and it felt a little disappointing even as I thought it was good in many ways. The choice to write in multiple POVs — one I often do love — felt like it caused   the sisters to be deliberately kept separate for so much of the book; perhaps why I felt the prologue and epilogue were some of the most effective moments in the novel.

Anyway — it’s good, not (for me) great, and I’m not sure I would read more by CM. It’s sad but without big lingering impact, I think, which breaks my heart a little bit since there’s potentially so much intense and powerful stuff in here about family, addiction, grief.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism