Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

40 reviews

_thislineismine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: War

teacupsandfirereads's review against another edition

I found it slow and didn't feel engaged with the story or characters.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, and Child abuse

allthechaptersandverses's review against another edition

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Death of parent, Incest, and Sexual content

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

I need to put an indefinite pause on reading non-genre adult fiction by mainstream authors from mainstream publishers. Even the most reputedly "groundbreaking" among them have a resigned conventionality that just... exhausts me, and much of their so-called novelty is authors retreading old ground while trying to one-up each other in how "edgy" they can be.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Xenophobia, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Death, Incest, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Infidelity, War, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

Postpartum depression

redporchinverter's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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

3.5

Great Circle didn't exactly provide the rip-roaring adventure yarn I was looking for (I keep accidentally reading books with pedophilia), though it certainly has lift whenever Marian's in the cockpit. The ending left me unsatisfied in a way I can't quite put my finger on, but Maggie Shipstead is so skilled at conveying the allure and terror of being unmoored, of oblivion as both self-destruction and self-liberation that perhaps a more cathartic bang of a conclusion would've felt like a betrayal. I would've read a whole book just focused on Marian, Ruth and Eddie in World War II-era England.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Rape

beatriks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious reflective medium-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

Loved this book so much. 
I‘m pretty sure this will be on top of my List for 2023.

The story is everything I want, characters are so complex and well-explained, the plot is so carefully planned and built up.

The writing is superb. There is no book so far with so many highlighted sentences and passages. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Sexism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, and Rape

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Addiction

honeybeeville's review against another edition

I don’t think was able to include all the triggers I encountered in the first 17% of the book that I did finish. I’m including some specifics below behind spoilers. It’s really unfortunate the directions this book ends up going as the premise is very interesting and could have been explored in a different way.

I had to stop when the book seemed to sexualize a child along with other issues. Very early on, child sexual abuse and the resulting effects of this trauma are described in some detail. I’m not sure why this needed to be included outside of creating a sense of difficulty around the birth of one of the main characters. I persevered after this though it did not feel like it was handled well. Then we come to the main character who is 12 or 13 and being described as very interested in sexual activity to the point of masturbartion being mentioned with an adult man being referenced. That is a hard no for me. Nearly immediately after, a side character/story were mentioned that felt unrelated and also did not seem to be handled well by the author.

After this, I didn’t care what happened next. There was no way I was reading further.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

raiimundo97's review against another edition

Too long and slow placed. Did not vibe with the characters.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Child abuse

karenmsecrest's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

A sweeping epic spanning generations written in lyrical prose. Themes of connection, isolation, triumph, loss, trauma, and victory. 

At the core is the story of a girl growing up in prohibition-era Montana desperate to become an aviatrix, and the actress who will play her on film 90 years later. Without giving any spoilers, there is a LOT of trauma in this story, as with any story set during depression, prohibition, WWII, etc. The way the disparate lives are woven together is stunning. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Death, Rape, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Abortion, Child death, Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Child abuse

booksandmo's review

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Rape

Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Child abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Grief, Pedophilia, Gore, and Death

Minor: Abortion