Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Five Little Indians by Michelle Good

51 reviews

nasvans's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, Cultural appropriation, Child death, Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

sab3467's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Suicide, Death, Colonisation, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Torture, and Kidnapping

abbie_'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

3.75

Finished this one on Friday and it was a tough one but very necessary. With Five Little Indians, Michelle Good tells the stories of five residential school survivors, before, during and after their lives are irrevocably altered by the horrors of the Canadian institution. It’s told from the perspective of all five characters and flits around so we get to know their lives before the residential school, although the main heft of the novel is the five doing their best to live after they’ve been released into the world. It is truly disgusting how these ‘schools’ would steal young children away from families, strip them of their Indigenous heritage, often inflict unthinkable abuse, and then just cut them off once they come of age, left to struggle in the real world with no preparation or support. They do have each other, as this book highlights, and that’s all they have to cling to in a world that wants nothing to do with them. Michelle Good demonstrates how deeply trauma buries itself into the psyche of all five characters, to devastating consequences like alcoholism, mental illness, violence and even suicide. The writing is quite spare, but it grew on me quickly and I don’t think this is a topic that needs dressing up or sugarcoated.

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Difficult to swallow, but a must for understanding the horrors of Canadian residential schools.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Physical abuse

hologlam's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Genocide, Child death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Racism, Child abuse, Addiction, Colonisation, Pedophilia, and Police brutality

protoflux's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Drug use, Suicide, Self harm, and Pedophilia

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review

challenging dark emotional slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Sexual content, Child abuse, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Racism, Addiction, Child death, Death, and Confinement

Moderate: Pedophilia, Violence, Vomit, Car accident, Medical content, Pregnancy, Police brutality, and Animal death

Minor: Bullying and Death of parent

hilwithonel's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book feels as important of a read as the story itself was compelling. Absolutely devastating atrocities were committed and this book allows us to gather historical context through the lense of complex characters each loveable and heartbreaking. I have so many feelings I cant begin to collect them into real thoughts here. Just...fantastic 5 star read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Violence, Trafficking, Suicide, Addiction, Pedophilia, Child death, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent, Drug use, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape

mpbookreviews's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Racism, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Alcoholism, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Vomit, Abandonment, Addiction, and Violence

schwelo's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I knew this book would be heavy and it was. But the characters are so relatable and the storytelling so compelling, that I couldn’t put it down. Trauma takes many different forms in this story, but there is also survival, hope, healing & community. If the boarding schools were a rock thrown in a lake, this book is the story of all the ripples that spread out across the water’s surface. Excellent book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Cursing, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Vomit, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Rape, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Suicide

katiecat22's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I know a fair amount about these boarding schools in the US, but this book offers a lot of information about these schools operating in BC through fictional characters. This is so well written, and each chapter focuses on a different character, all while the chapters and stories of the characters weave back together. I teared up a lot in the final few chapters. Because of the time jumps and multi-character focus, we, as readers, don’t get to see and explore every aspect of these characters’ lives and how the legacy of the boarding school trauma impacts them, but I think the vignette-esque style works really well. Maise’s story was definitely the hardest to read for me. There are content warnings for just about everything, but it is such an important story to hear and share. I am so glad I read it, even though it was difficult to read emotionally.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Suicide, Addiction, Rape, Pedophilia, and Religious bigotry