Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

38 reviews

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-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

5.0

A beautifully heartbreaking story. The writing was just exquisite, i could easily picture every scene and character with how poetically they were written. I really enjoyed this and can’t wait to watch the movie and compare them

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, and Sexual assault

katierosecrane's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

It took me a lot longer to finish this book. Not because it was bad, but because it was so much to digest. There are dark scenarios which I had to process. Good book but not an easy read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Blood, Mental illness, Gore, Alcoholism, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Murder, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Suicide, Child abuse, Classism, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Addiction, Rape, Religious bigotry, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

akaur007's review

dark emotional 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

quinn24's review

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

Told from the POV of Astrid Magnussen, daughter of a manipulative poet who is imprisoned early in the story for the murder of an ex-lover. The story follows Astrid through her various foster homes for the next 6 years as she grows and tries to escape her mother’s grip. 
This book was written in such a beautiful way there were so so many quotes I underlined. There wasn’t really anything that I could  personally relate to but it almost felt like I understood at times. There were moments where it was kinda boring but that’s almost always how it is when a book follows someone’s life. The N-slur is used a couple times and while every time it is used it’s clear that it’s not a good thing to call someone (it’s used by a terrible, racist character) it’s obviously still not great for a white women to be writing it. Overall though it was really a fascinating meditation on a very complex mother-daughter relationship

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Cursing, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Death, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Self harm, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Antisemitism, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Racism, Addiction, Murder, and Vomit

Minor: Ableism

zemily83's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Child abuse

dizzzybrook's review

emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

I think this is one of my absolute favorite books I have ever read. I found both Astrid's character and her complicated relationship with her mother deeply relatable. I really enjoy this style of writing even though it understandably may come off as pretentious or overdramatic to some. My only gripe is that I personally found the ending to be a little lackluster, but that's genuinely just a personal preference. This will definitely be a book I reread in the future as there is so much to dissect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Alcoholism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, and Racism

hugsnotdrogs's review

dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

riley2005's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Pedophilia, and Child abuse

Moderate: Racism, Suicide, and Murder

sizzlesteaks's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Suicide, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Mental illness, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Sexual content, Child abuse, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Death, and Blood

Minor: Bullying

softghoul_jpeg's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this novel was an introduction into the style of writing i wanted my work to be like. this book changed so many things for me. and i will forever love it after every read. the writing is superb. the characters are so complex, storyline intriguing. you get such a raw look into how the foster care system can chew and spit it's kids out, and how obsession can be the death of you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Child abuse

Moderate: Death, Abandonment, and Drug use