Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

4 reviews

celery's review

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Ableism, Classism, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Medical content, Animal death, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Grief, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Vomit, Cursing, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Rape, War, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Sexual content

librarianeno's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

This was a fun book for me as it's set in an area I'm very familiar with. Before this book was published, I hadn't heard of Martha Ballard, but now I want to learn more about her and her life. She seemed like a strong, brave, independent woman during a time when all three of those traits were looked down on by society.

The story follows a year of Martha Ballard's life as both a midwife and as a witness to a rape victim. Large parts of the story take place in court. Either in the tavern court which seemed like the equivalent to a district court, or in the county court. Parts of this story were very heavy. But it's very easy to get attached to the characters and want things to go well for them. And it's also very easy to hate the "bad guy" in this story as well. He is not a likable person.

I would classify this book as historical fiction/mystery/suspense. I got this book from the library at first because when I saw it on Book of the Month, it had a warning for graphic rape and discussion of death. I would say that both of those things are prevalent within the story, so if they are triggers, you might want to reconsider. I was able to get through it without having to fast-forward (listened to it on audio). I'm planning on purchasing to add to my collection

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Alcohol, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Grief, Emotional abuse, Blood, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Death, Rape, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Murder

mamajeter's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative mysterious medium-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

5.0

Great read. I look forward to reading other books by this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Physical abuse, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Violence, Child death, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, War, Toxic relationship, Murder, Medical content, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Sexual harassment

mtnest's review

challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Sexual assault, Child death, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Medical content, Pregnancy, Rape, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Grief, Toxic relationship, Pandemic/Epidemic, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Classism, and Chronic illness

Minor: Sexual content, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, and War