Reviews tagging 'Violence'

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

13 reviews

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

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

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

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

raisinreads's review

dark emotional

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I don't know what to rate this book bc parts were quite well written but also judging by the way many parts were written i don't think i like the author as a person 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Suicide, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual assault, Rape, Gaslighting, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Xenophobia, Sexism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Violence, Toxic friendship, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, and Bullying

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

alicelalicon's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Suicide

pearsupply's review

challenging emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Violence, Death of parent, Death, and Child abuse

Minor: Murder

lmshearer's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

The language of this book is alluring, but the plot and its characters became more and more tedious as the story went along. Editing it down by 100 pages would have helped pace the book as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Racism, Sexual content, Racial slurs, and Emotional abuse