Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Betty by Tiffany McDaniel

74 reviews

amykuc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This was a difficult read. It hurt my heart to take in the huge amount of trauma that happened to this family. Betty is based on the life of Tiffany McDaniel's mother, and the dysfunction runs deep. This novel takes us from Betty's meeting of her husband to the day when she finally escapes. Even though, there is so much dysfunction, it ends with a note of hope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Incest, Mental illness, and Racism

grisgrisgris's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

jeannelovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.0

A story of resilience.

‘

Where I came from was a family of eight children. More than one of us would die in the prize-winning years of youth.’

Written by Tiffany McDaniel, the novel is based on her mother’s childhood in 1960s rural Appalachia. Betty, born to a white mother and Cherokee father, is the only Carpenter child who shares her father’s dark hair and complexion. For this she is relentlessly bullied; at school, in the community, and by her own family. Meanwhile the extent of tragedy - murder, rape, accidents, abuse - that befalls the Carpenter family is nothing short of rampant.

Deeply disturbing, Betty’s an unforgettable read. But both its brilliance and its shortcomings stem from the fact it’s a family memoir. Imagine writing an exposé of your family’s darkest secrets, with dear old Mum as the central protagonist. And she’s still alive, which is remarkable given her upbringing but tricky territory to navigate. The challenge lies in portraying the victims & perpetrators as anything other than heroes & villains and consequently some family members, Betty included, are curiously one-dimensional. Another issue is the freedom, or lack of, to deviate from the family script. Without a narrative arc, we get A Series of Unfortunate Events interspersed with brief moments of respite which typically focus on Betty and her father, Landon. The pattern became so predictable that after every heart-warming exchange I steeled myself for the next onslaught.

The brilliance lies in the author’s descriptive powers. Mum’s accounts of abuse include details so cruel and calculated there’s no doubting their authenticity. The sense of time and place is vividly imagined and the sheer resilience of Betty and her own mother Alka is inspiring. For me this was Alka’s story. Ordeal heaped upon ordeal and somehow she soldiered on.

The author evidently shares the same strength. Apparently the first agents she approached refused to believe that the women in her family had experienced such abuse. Thank goodness she persevered because memoirs as powerful and hard-hitting as this have the potential to break the taboos that force silence on so many girls and women.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy

my_plant_library's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Death, Incest, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Addiction and Suicide

Minor: Abortion

marie's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction and Abortion

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

cechdh's review against another edition

it was too hard to read 

reading this book broke me: it was so harsh and beautiful and sad and depicted the horrible truth, without covering any of it. the diff between the magical world of betty’s father, his connexion to nature, to realness and beauty, and the horror of real life was so wonderful 

it was really worth reading, though really hard to 
tw: everything 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

tarotcarrot's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

A really interesting and tragic portrait of grief and intergenerational trauma. The father/daughter relationship is what pushes the narrative, and makes the characters extremely compelling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Addiction

kingaisnotcool's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

new favourite book

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction

phee's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

That little snippet at then end with the Bliss family made me so happy. 
I really enjoyed this, though it did take me a while to truly get into it. It was full of heart and hope, but sad and traumatic at times too. Not for the faint of heart. A lot of content warnings for this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Grief, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

puzzledbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Abortion