Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

12 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

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

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

morenowagain's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Gun violence

Moderate: Drug use and Sexual content

Minor: Stalking and Self harm

reesespuff6's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Medical content, Alcohol, Cursing, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Racism, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Self harm

laurenwash's review

dark emotional hopeful 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

I didn't love Astrid as much as I loved Delores from SCU.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Bullying, Drug abuse, Grief, Murder, Rape, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Emotional abuse

blouviere4's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

malewife's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.25

The prose in this book is so overwrought in the worst way possible. Some of these similes and metaphors are just redundant and often sound plain bad. 

Regardless, I still somewhat enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicide

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Eating disorder

layton93's review

dark emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail