Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Girls by Emma Cline

76 reviews

groverreads's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

Bored teenager thinks she is special and does profound things, but she doesn’t. Overhyped book, pretty boring read! Some nice prose though! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

desireewoodwhite's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Child abuse

Moderate: Rape, Murder, and Child death

terrabby's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

No lo he odiado pero me lo habían hypeado mucho y me ha dejado bastante indiferente. El tema sectas me interesa más bien poco y tampoco creo que la parte psicológica que sería la más interesante se desarrolle demasiado. Parece un poco un collage de escenas morbosas con un toque de coming of age que en realidad para mi gusto es la única parte que vale la pena de la novela. Mucha gente dice que no le gusta la voz de Evie pero a mi me ha parecido bien, solo me hubiese gustado que me contase una historia diferente. Las partes de adulta me sobraban muchísimo. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Murder, Domestic abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Child death, Child abuse, Addiction, Sexual content, Animal death, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Blood, Abandonment, and Adult/minor relationship

bethybooevans's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Just didn’t live up to the hype or my personal expectations at all. I felt that the present day Evie and the narrative surrounding Sasha and Julian was very irrelevant and a lots of unnecessary content just to give the comparison between younger Evie and Sasha.
The book would have been more engaging had the focus been on the cult and the facts surrounding it. 
However, the gruesome men were portrayed well and Evie’s relationship with Susanne was intriguing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Blood, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, and Bullying

smalika's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gaslighting, Trafficking, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Rape

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child abuse

Minor: Fatphobia

oraclereadings's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Child abuse

This wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't very good either. I actually quite enjoyed some parts. The book is so over descriptive that it's easy to get lost. It's labeled as adult fiction, but because of Evie's age and since it's in her POV, it reads as a young-adult. There's a mighty list of trigger warnings that need to be addressed before reading this book. View this spoiler for tw:

Adult/Minor Relationship, Sexual Assault, Murder, Drugs, Abuse of all sorts (including child abuse), and some light gore

The Girls starts with Evie sitting in a park and she becomes fascinated with these older teenage girls and the freedom that they express. Evie is so young and impressionable that when she meets up with Suzanne, one of the girls from the park, she becomes fascinated and drawn to her.

It's never outright said in the book, but Evie is gay and she becomes obsessed with Suzanne.

Evie's parents are divorced and she's just broken a friendship with a childhood friend. After a fight with her mom, she goes with Suzanne to a ranch where her "family" stays. If you don't know already, this book is very heavily based upon "The Manson Family". This book focuses more on the Family itself rather than the murders. I probably would have enjoyed this more if it stayed focused on the past and didn't time jump to the present. Nothing really happens in the present with Evie, other than her recollecting her memories of the cult and how things could have been different.

katelynleonardi's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Child death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

sammiesshelf's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.0

This book fell incredibly flat for me. I was excited by the premise of a Manson-esque cult story, and the cover caught my eye, but I was greatly disappointed. One thing I believe contributed greatly to this was the perspective the story is told from. The narrator is Evie Boyd, a girl who spent the summer leading up to the murders with the cult. She was 14 at the time. However, when she is telling the story, she is somewhere in her mid to late fifties from what I gathered, so the tone you are left with is jaded and depressing. It seems as if her life sort of peaked that summer, so her whole vibe is just sad and lonely. This makes it so that you lose a lot of the illusion of the cult in the beginning. Immediately, Evie points out the faults at the ranch, even though she didn't pay much mind to them at the time. For me, this made it feel like I was just reading about a bunch of dirty (like literally don't bathe) scammers the whole time, instead of almost experiencing the way they use their charisma and "message" to pull people in. I think much of what I expect a cult book to be is sort of through the eyes of someone falling for the trap, not someone who escaped and is recounting it forty years later. 

Additionally, there was a weird story going on in the present tense, which felt completely unnecessary. I think the author was going for some sort of parallel with the story of the cult, but it didn't really work and just made the book harder to get through. 

Overall, the book dragged terribly and was very easy for me to put down. The only time I found myself reading more than thirty pages at a time was when I finally said "Oh my god I want to get this over with." An enticing concept, but sadly a poor execution.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Drug use, Gore, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

kingcrookback's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

In terms of the subject matter--that is, girlhood, abuse, and the capability/desire to enact violence--The Girls is in the same vein as Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects. However, The Girls is a much slower, almost meditative experience than Flynn's novella. The crime itself is nearly an afterthought. The majority of the focus is on the buildup to the horrific event. The prose is beautifully descriptive but laconic at times. I suggest having a lighthearted, uplifting read lined up after this.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, and Infidelity

Minor: Classism and Death of parent

annasophie's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.25

3.25 - I liked the writing itself more than the story. I actually marked many phrases and passages because they stuck out to me, and I’m excited to explore more of Cline’s work. The setting was what drew me to the novel originally; there’s just something about 20th Century southern California, no matter the exact decade, that fascinates me. Truly one of my favorite geographical settings for stories, especially since I cannot think of one happy, non-depressing, non-messed up story set in Cali off the top of my hat. Somehow the Californian atmosphere just demands gloomy stories that palpably feel like inhaling the dark, heavy smog on a hot day in LA. 
The idea of taking the Manson Family and the infamous murder of Sharon Tate as starting point was also incredibly intriguing to me but I just couldn’t fully get into the plot. I guess I’m just not big on the pairing of little girls, drugs, sex, abuse and manipulation, even in a story that’s as intriguing as the Manson Family. I love the exploration of dark psychology, trauma, and all things, except when it involves underage girls. Maybe it’s because I watched the movie 13 when I was way too young and now I’m just over those stories. It’s a good book, it’s very well written, but it just wasn’t for me.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Gaslighting, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Body shaming

Minor: Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Self harm