Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Things She's Seen by Ezekiel Kwaymullina, Ambelin Kwaymullina

24 reviews

tinypotato21's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Child death, Medical content, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Racism, Violence, Death, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

jewelrybonney's review

dark hopeful mysterious fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Child death

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Trafficking, Pedophilia, Car accident, and Murder

lucy_jan_smith's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Child abuse, Car accident, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Death, and Adult/minor relationship

oofsharkz73's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This was my second reading of this book, and I wish I'd known how I felt about it the first time so I could compare how I felt then/now, but I only vaguely remembered reading it in the first place. I'd say it was worth reading again. It is a quick, heartfelt novel, centering around racism, murder, child abuse, and grief. The spirituality and symbolism is what draws you in and keeps you reading with The Things She's Seen. While I feel like with any other 'mystery' novel, the conclusion would have been obvious from the start, the symbolism with colors and crows and Fetchers from Catching's perspective keeps the mystery alive. At times the novel unravels in a rather convoluted manner, however I feel as though it was a great way to approach some of the darker secrets revealed in the novel. 

"...He'd say there was no such thing as monsters. There were ... But [we] had only seen the men." 

The story has the capability of moving you if you approach it with the right mindset, or if you enjoy a book that runs a little off skew to the typical mystery novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Colonisation, Racism, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Car accident, Child death, and Death

awkwardimagination's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.75

This is an ghost story about grief and hope. It spans across the past and present to create this nonlinear, multigenerational story about Aboriginal women/girls. The beginning to middle was kinda mediocre - interesting but not anything great. The middle to end was were it started to hit and I started having fun (for lack of better word) with reading, sleuthing out the meaning behind Catching's story. Speaking of Catching, there is something special about her character that I love. She gets straight to the point and her chapters are written in a nontraditional way that reflects her personality well. Beth herself was kind of annoying at times, but it was forgivable considering her circumstances and wasn't something I hated. I liked this book much better than I thought I would despite the bland start because eventhough I was a little bored with it, it was still intriguing to read. I say give this a try if youre looking for something fast to read. Not something light, fast because this book is dark.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Death, Racism, Child abuse, Child death, Hate crime, Death of parent, Grief, and Torture

Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction and Colonisation

allisonsmith120's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Colonisation, and Confinement

Moderate: Blood, Kidnapping, Racism, Car accident, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

euphemiajo's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Kidnapping, and Racism

rockyroadbutch's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Incredible and emotional. Powerful. Using stories and colors, metaphors and realism to tap into core emotional experiences. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Child death

Moderate: Rape, Colonisation, Violence, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Most of the story is told in metaphor, so very little is explicit. Fire and death are the most explicit.

careinthelibrary's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

I finished The Things She's Seen (known as Catching Teller Crow in some countries) by Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina today. It's one I've owned for a while and finally got around to it. 

On the surface it's a YA ghost story and mystery, but there is so much bubbling under the surface here. The "enduring strength of Aboriginal women and girls" despite facing disproportionate, horrific violence, the direct and indirect impacts of the Stolen Generations which I want to learn more about, ancient storytelling of Aboriginal peoples. A ghost story, a crime thriller, found sisterhood, father-daughter growing their relationship beyond the barrier of death. 

It's a lot wrapped up in a short, fast novel. This hits the ground running and the pace rarely lets up. Its wide array of genres and themes makes me think it would appeal to a lot of different kinds of readers. I wish it had a more striking cover that captured the themes and tone of the book better. 

Death is only the beginning. And the end is the beginning that hasn't happened yet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Colonisation, Rape, Murder, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Death, Confinement, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Car accident, and Racism

danielle_dan's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Child abuse, and Death