Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

6 reviews

midgereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.5

I enjoyed this book and I like the commentary on social class and the workhouses. It’s a good book for analysis, but it can get a little boring sometimes and the descriptions at the beginning of each chapter can be a little unnecessary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Classism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Sexism, Antisemitism, and Physical abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

theskyisthelimit's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Overall, the writing and story were phenomenal. In fact, a certain misfortune upon a certain character made my eyes water just a little for a book (or movie, or story) for the first time. Absolutely terrific! The only things that really kept it from being five stars was the romance, as it felt rushed and unnecessary, and the slight lack of depth in Oliver’s character. I would have liked to see Oliver’s personality other than simply his morals or attitude (i.e. his interactions with Dick, the orphan boy Oliver became good friends with). I also find it worth mentioning that while some have commented on the misogyny in this book as a negative quality, I must disagree. You’ll notice the characters clearly depicted as “bad” are the misogynistic ones and those that are good or at least somewhere in the middle oppose it. Not to mention, some of the kindest and bravest characters are women, so if anything, I would say this book, while not necessarily feminist, is certainly anti-misogyny. 

Nancy’s death made me quite sad (even though I knew what was going to happen ahead of time) and the death of Sikes stood out to me as singularly grotesque save for deaths written by Poe himself, and I greatly applaud Charles Dickens for his spectacular writing in these two instances specifically.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Child death, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Abandonment, Classism, and Death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Incest, Infidelity, and Alcohol

dwager's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

This book is early Dickens, and wanders a bit in terms of the story line. It is a dark and melodramatic look at the underworld of Victorian England,  much darker than any adaptation I've seen. The characters are archetypes of criminals, innocent child, benevolent grandfather, etc.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Bullying, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Physical abuse, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Forced institutionalization, and Deportation

katielou22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Antisemitism

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Classism

jrjohnson1408's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, and Child abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Child death and Alcohol

jersy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

 This book manages to be written in a funny, sarcastic and witty way while also being absolutely devastating. Oliver has to endure so much, and while he seems to be the least interesting and fleshed out character in the book, it is so easy to sympathize with him. I must admit I liked the little side stories and the mystery more than the actual plot since it was just frustrating to see a child suffer that much and lose every positive thing he earns, however the whole book is really engaging due to its prose and the enjoyable side characters. I love Dickens` writing style and should stop being so intimidated by his works. 

He wrote a very touching example of how poor people, and especially more vulnerable ones like children, were treated horribly and how most citizens that were better off didn’t even notice and expected gratitude for their ill-treatment. While where I live poverty to that extreme extend does not have to exist anymore, I can totally see parallels to how some people view the unemployed and refugees nowadays. Still a very worthwhile read but more brutal than one would expect from its adaptations and general knowledge about this book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Death

Minor: Toxic relationship