Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Girls by Emma Cline

20 reviews

lindseygcarden's review against another edition

dark sad

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Murder, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Violence, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexism, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Trafficking, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual harassment, Gore, Physical abuse, and Pedophilia

jkull_10's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Violence, Death, Murder, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Self harm, Blood, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gore

kittyfast's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Blood, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Body horror, Death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Gore, Violence, Drug use, Eating disorder, Hate crime, and Sexual assault

lindsayerin's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Child death, Murder, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Blood

knikchevich's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Child abuse, Blood, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

panic_at_the_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The build up and the basics of the plot were amazing and made you want to reach the ending of the story. However the ending was rather disappointing. I feel like there are still plenty of loose ends. 

Some scenes and characters felt rather empty. Sex was mentioned sooo many times. There are plenty of scenes where a minor is sexually involved with plenty of adults, often twice her age. Not sure if these scenes should have been this explicit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Pedophilia, Blood, Death, Sexual content, Murder, Addiction, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse

issyd23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Like a more interesting version of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 4⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Rape, Addiction, Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Gore, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Self harm, and Sexual harassment

frog_appreciator's review against another edition

2.0

I understand the point of the book is to be uncomfortable to read but I don’t think I enjoyed it. Feels a bit icky to have resemblance to a real life cult. While I appreciate the intent of showcasing the internalized misogyny of girls and the way the world treats them in general, reading it felt a bit too much like trauma porn. There were one or two pages that stood out to me like wow I felt that, but not enough to make it worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child abuse and Murder

Minor: Eating disorder

taliatalksbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.0

The Girls by Emma Cline was a snapshot into the life of Evie and her involvement with a cult. I really wanted to love this book, but I felt like there were a few aspects that took me out of the story. First, the lens through with the story was told: and older Evie looking back at the past. While I didn’t mind the flashbacks, I thought the addition of these young characters who didn’t seem to care much about anything was out of place. I think the story could have been much more grounded if we were experiencing the traumas first hand for the entire novel, though I did like the added input from older Evie. I thought that the book was well-written, but the time jumps seemed random, more than planned. I also wish we had seen more of the progression of the cult behavior. It seemed to go pretty quickly from zero to one hundred and back again, with a lot of the middle ground feeling as though it lasted forever. Evie’s position on the outskirts created a blank space, that I wished we could have had filled in. A lot of the questions Evie had, especially about the other girls,were a lot of the same questions I had as a reader and these felt unanswered. Overall, it was an enjoyable read, but it was definitely a slower pace than I was anticipating with a cult novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Murder, Rape, Violence, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Adult/minor relationship

lindseyas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

More than the story of a girl becoming involved in a cult, this book is all about girlhood, growing up and growing into your own skin. Evie is a helpless girl that thrives off of male attention, validation and feeling accepted by the people around her. Russel's cult is a representation of this commonly feminine trait — he is able to use his charisma and air of acceptance to bring in naive women that want the same thing as Evie. He accepts them for who they are, gives the attention that they so desire and makes them feel special. The cult is much less a physical thing and more of a metaphor for this traditionally feminine idea, how young girls are desperately in search of a home where their flaws are considered beautiful, where their spirit can be free and where men are there to guide them and treat them like they are princesses. But, this cult of society has a dark after-effect — this validation only lasts for a small period of time and can results in violent, deadly and disturbing consequences.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Child death, Pedophilia, Self harm, Alcohol, Death, Domestic abuse, and Drug use