Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Love

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

caseybones's review

dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0

Content Warnings

Love chronicles the lives of the Cosey women, a granddaughter and widow who used to be best friends but now scramble for purchase in the aftermath of Bill Cosey’s death. Christine and Heed are cohabitating and codependent but adamant in their hatred of each other, a hatred planted by Christine’s conspiracy-minded mother (May) and stoked by Cosey’s indulgent perversion.

“Heed closed her fingers. Christine decorated hers. No matter. They battled on as though they were champions instead of sacrifices. A crying shame.”

There are essays to be written about each and every character in the book, and the way judgement and hypocrisy tap dance through the town. There’s the way Christine and Heed both fall out of social standing despite their opposite childhoods. The brand of toxic masculinity that Cosey and Romen both embody in their sexuality, observed but unchallenged by Sandler. The proxy treatment Junior gives Romen with Cosey to make up for the emptiness of her childhood. So much trauma packed into each and every character’s arc, some of it dressed up as adventure.

The ending is the neatest of all her work I’ve read so far. L as the narrator makes perfect sense but Junior remains an enigma. It’s not happy by any means, but it is explained, and the conclusions Christine and Heed come to provide some catharsis in the absence of vengeance.

Content Warnings

michaelion's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

Sula and Nel, the people of Ruby, Oklahoma, and Violet, Joe, and Dorcas all culminate in this excellently written book, as usual for Miss Morrison, but, just like Jazz, it wasn't for me. And for similar reasons. However, I do like this one more. Probably because it focuses a bit more on the women than it does the man who scorned himself.

The only reason why I'm comparing the books is because I asked myself why am I giving Love a higher rating than I gave Jazz despite the fact that I liked more elements in Jazz than I did in Love? It's because what I liked in Jazz wasn't central to the main story,

the back story involving Wild and Golden Gray, mostly, as well as Joe and Violet's history,

meanwhile in Love it's all there. Meant to be absorbed at once. The gaps and pieces meant to be glued together or filled in complete everyone's story. The friends / sisters turned enemies are one and the same, not self made victims (like Joe). Something about power dynamics I guess, I think. Anyway.

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ktkeps's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad slow-paced

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

Content Warnings

czidya's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

First of all, this is the first Morrison novel I’ve read and I recognize that that was probably an unusual choice.
Heart wrenching and beautifully written, Love depicts an extreme example of a family dominated by a patriarch, whose choices have consequences for the women in his life that reverberate for decades after his death. Every character sparkled and leapt off the page. The nonlinear narration challenged me at times but overall made the unfolding of the story so gripping and unique.
I will say that as an enjoyer of slow-paced books, this book started off slow even for my taste. Perhaps as a consequence of the nonlinear, vignette style, there is almost no direct action until the closing sequence of the book, which made it difficult for me to get drawn into the story, despite the gorgeous prose.

Content Warnings