Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The North Water by Ian McGuire

10 reviews

iakinney's review against another edition

The sexual assault of a child in the first chapter felt like shock value rather than a commitment to realism and the prose wasn’t good enough to make me want to read more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

stepfarmer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

if i hadn't watched the show based upon this book, i might not have picked it up at all. that being said, it's an enjoyable short read, if a bit stomach-churning at parts. mcguire has a stunning ability to capture character voice, and i enjoyed how he explored the idea of man vs man and man as beast thru sumner and drax's characters. def recommend for anyone interested in lost-at-sea type of stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Medical trauma, Animal death, Racism, Excrement, Drug use, Animal cruelty, and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Religious bigotry, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, War, and Cursing

brief scene of necrophilia

kendalsbookcase's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Sexual violence, Child abuse, and War

emmagreenwood's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Blood, Excrement, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Pedophilia, and Torture

akthiebes's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Vomit, Child death, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Rape

samster's review against another edition

I'm sorry, I found the graphic first chapter far too unpleasant. I'm not usually squeamish, this is the second book I remember finding this unpleasant (though for different reasons) & I forced myself to finish the last one, and regretted it. So, I'm stopping this one here. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

Content warning not on the list for necrophilia.

bruinrocks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Animal death, Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Drug use, Drug abuse, Cursing, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Blood, Animal cruelty, Addiction, and Abandonment

jackbifrost's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Excrement, Gore, Homophobia, Medical content, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Outing

stopsatgreen's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Murder, and Sexual violence

kissmyash0600's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This was a brutal and difficult story to get through. I also feel like it lost momentum partway through. Given the time period, be aware of racism of antisemitism in the story. None of the characters were particularly interesting and I feel like there wasn’t much development that made me prefer any character over another. There was one character worth hating, which was very clear, but other than that, the characters were pretty blah. It seems like this wanted to be a story of hardship and survival during the whaling trade, but it just didn’t fully work for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Racial slurs, Racism, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Homophobia, Excrement, Drug abuse, and Murder