Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

22 reviews

rainerasnic's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Rape, Alcohol, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, and Sexual harassment

alexisgarcia's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

this was such a devastating memoir. i loved how the voice throughout most of the story aged as the story progressed. the beginning has such a child-like voice which adds to how you feel for the author and what she went through. this was a hard but rewarding read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Medical content, Grief, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Cursing, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexism, Bullying, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Racism, and Sexual assault

mini_'s review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Violence, Rape, and Cursing

Moderate: Racism, Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Body shaming, and Car accident

mirajuliee's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

4.0

i do not even want to rate this book because it is such a horrible, heartbreaking  and emotional story. i loved the writing style of the author, she somehow captured every little detail in a way, that you don’t want to stop reading this book. it makes you mad and sad at the same time thinking it was all reality while instantly appreciating your own life a whole lot more.  i’m so glad there was a rather happy end to this shocking life story but i don’t think i’ll read it ever again because it has many graphic triggers and gross details. it affected me a lot emotionally, i’ll definitely think about this one a lot. 

(also, and i don’t know if this was just my version of the book but it had tons of spelling mistakes/random misplaced letters which distracted a lot while reading) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, and Racial slurs

Minor: Animal death

luckyonesoph's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent and Fatphobia

mandi4886's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Racism, Racial slurs, Body shaming, Bullying, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, Trafficking, Drug use, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Vomit, and Violence

sophicat's review

challenging reflective sad fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Excrement, Alcohol, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Addiction, Child abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Rape, Abandonment, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Pregnancy and Gun violence

ashleycmms's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Child abuse

Moderate: Incest, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia

Minor: Infidelity and Murder

annemaries_shelves's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

One of my oldest TBR books and I'm so incredibly glad I finally picked this up. 

Walls has an incredibly rich talent for story-telling and displays immense vulnerability in sharing her family's story. 
Reading this 10 years after I first learned about it, I have more empathy for the parents and a better ability to understand the nuances and grey zones of parent-child relationships, the circumstances that lead to unstable, unsafe, and neglectful households, and the sheer luck it takes to dig yourself out of systemic poverty the way the Walls children did. 

That said, her parents are terrible parents in a lot of ways. You can tell they love their children and want to install certain values like independent thinking, self-reliance, and others. But this often comes at the cost of healthcare, safety, job and financial security, and others risks. While her parents clearly have some mental health issues and substance use disorders to varying degrees (though she doesn't speculate on this) a lot of the circumstances the Walls found themselves in were entirely preventable and manageable. And that infuriates me. 

I loved reading about the siblings' dynamics and their resourcefulness and determination to make the best of things - and get the hell out of Welch when they no longer could. I'd especially love to read Lori's story one day - she seems to have a unique experience within the family and I think it could resonate with a lot of people (or maybe it's just oldest children relatability for me).

I have two main critiques that could bring my rating down 0.5 stars (but won't because I loved the experience of reading this memoir to much).
1) The pacing was slightly off in the second half. Jeannette Walls devotes so much time to her early childhood, that we often skip significant portions of her teen years and young adulthood. She only discusses the highlights as compared to the substantial exploration of her childhood and set-up of their family dynamics. 
2) Being published in 2005 and set largely in the 60s and 70s there is some outdated language. This includes the R-word and racial slurs. 

Overall this is a wonderful and emotional memoir - I can understand why and how it's become a classic in the genre. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Ableism and Misogyny

charlee92's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

4.5

Gave me "educated" by Westover vibes. Would give 4.5. Very interesting store but I just felt a little something was missing. The disconnection or growth. But maybe that was all part of reliving the majority of the store as a child who wasn't sure how strange this life was at the time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Bullying

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Racial slurs

Minor: Animal death, Blood, and Death