Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

25 reviews

zophiebrown's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Excellently written, with a dark story told through intertwining narratives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Classism, Murder, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, and Police brutality

Minor: Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abortion

natekka's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Sexual content, Slavery, Sexual assault, Death, Physical abuse, Car accident, Child death, Drug use, Rape, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Abortion, and Death of parent

Minor: Colonisation

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Sounded like it should’ve been a really good book. In reality, there were parts that were good, but most of it was disappointing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Grief, Bullying, Trafficking, Rape, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Abortion, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Stalking, Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Car accident, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Confinement, Murder, and Violence

lizzym126's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Confinement, Addiction, Kidnapping, Racism, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Murder, Drug use, Rape, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, Car accident, Drug abuse, and Gun violence

editorsansserif's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Violence, Kidnapping, Drug use, Cursing, Toxic relationship, and Classism

Moderate: Car accident, Grief, Blood, Death, Gore, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Child abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Rape, and Colonisation

Minor: Torture, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Infidelity, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Confinement, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Trafficking

bootsmom3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Abortion

meaghanslibrary's review

challenging tense slow-paced

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

1.75

This book started out alright with Ajay’s point of view. It was interesting to enter that world. But the second or third parts of the book were different points of view that I didn’t care for, I think it might be because the characters didn’t have redeeming qualities. 

It really felt the author was trying to do too much. Especially with trying to change the writing styles to poems when Sunny is being beaten up.

I did not get the ending at all, I was hoping it would redeem reading this long book, but it fell very flat.

I think maybe this book was more written like it was ready to be a screenplay for a movie because some parts felt so choppy. 

I feel like the book could have been good and had such good reviews but I’m very disappointed because it was so long and I just don’t get what the purpose of the book was at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Rape, Slavery, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, and Classism

grantsharpies's review

adventurous dark reflective 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Body shaming, Confinement, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Violence, Animal cruelty, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

just_one_more_paige's review

dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

 

“He dared to dream at the roulette wheel of life and lost his shirt every time.” 

 

There was a bit of buzz around this one as it came out, just recently, which had it on my radar. And I also got an ALC version of it from Libro.fm, which helped keep it there. I was in the mood for something more...I don't know, entertaining, I guess? Like, I know that gangster books are not necessarily light reads, as they are likely chock full of violence and substance misuse and other tough topics, *but* they have that escapist/surreal vibe that I was looking for, so I decided to give this one a try. 

 

Age of Vice opens with a post-car crash scene, with multiple people dead and a rich man's car (being driven by a shell-shocked servant with no memory of the night's events) found by police on the side of the road in Delhi. As the novel unfolds, the reader follows three perspectives of people connected to the influential-from-the-shadows, loved and feared and power-hungry, Wadia family. Sunny Wadia is the heir to the Wadia family dynasty, young and idealistic and a well-known host of lavish parties and patron of upcoming arts and socialites. Ajay is a young boy from a background of poverty who has found himself as Sunny's most trusted servant. And Neda is a journalist who, after being pulled into Sunny's sphere, finds herself in an ever-more-complicated relationship with both Sunny and the Wadia empire. Their stories span the breath of contemporary India, both in location and class, and highlight social issues, complicated interpersonal and romantic dynamics, the drama and violence and expectations of gangs and gang families, as well as the general greed of humanity and the constant battle to stand against corruption and for morality. 

 

This was well-marketed. Absolutely a good old-fashioned, classic gangster style story. As indicated in the title, there is every kind of vice imaginable in these pages: money, substances, power, sex, and, of course, tons of intimidation and violence. I was really impressed with how well Kapoor combined all those vibes with (stunning) setting descriptions and full character development that stood up the the intensity of the plot. It would have been easy for those details to be lost or consigned to the background, but they weren't - it was a great balance. That being said, this book was also long. I was so glad for the audiobook, because while I really was invested, everything was quite compelling, there was also no conciseness in the language used to convey it all. Being able to listen helped keep me moving forwards through it.   

 

I don't read a lot of books of this genre, so I am not really sure how the stories usually unfold, but I do have to say this was surprisingly emotionally a downer. Like, yes, lots of terrible things happen, violence-wise, but I had gone in expecting that. It was the character's story arcs in particular that were all honestly tragic AF. I mean even though they all ended with a sort of eye toward the future, there was nothing happy or positive about any of it. At best, one could consider some of the "fresh(ish) start" vibes as a neutral place to leave these characters. But overall, the trajectory of the individual stories for Sunny, Ajay and Neda did nothing so much as demonstrate how this type of "age of vice" lifestyle takes advantage of/screws over everyone in its quest for power and oblivion and money, no matter how you're related, inside or out of it. There is just so much naïveté and idealism and best intentions and morals squashed. It was tough to watch the slow slide into...settling. 

Overall, this is an incredible combination of all the drama and violence of a true crime syndicate/corrupt affluent population/complacent government mystery-thriller plot, with the sweeping descriptions of the city and rural landscapes of an entire country, with the character development of an intergenerational family saga. Very much some quality escapist reading, with a satisfying dose of social justice commentary. 

 

 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Grief, Physical abuse, Car accident, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Drug use, Misogyny, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Trafficking, Abortion, and Bullying

Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Vomit, and Torture

torturedreadersdept's review

challenging dark emotional tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Addiction, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Classism, Cursing, Violence, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abortion, Suicide, and Pregnancy