Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

3 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

---

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

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

---

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

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 

---

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