Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

117 reviews

encharro's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, Toxic friendship, and Alcoholism

knowledgeable_but_stupid's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad medium-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

4.0

It was a wonderful book, in my opinion. I immediately bought this one after reading Young Mungo. He writes so vividly that I can imagine every scene and use his descriptions to fill in the blanks in my mind in a most natural way. A lot of topics were the same as in Young Mungo, but this one touched more on the perspective of the alcoholic mother and it was written as more of a life story. The repetition compared to the other book made it feel a bit predictable at times, but to be fair, this one was his first novel. Maybe I should’ve read them in the correct order. I enjoyed the way he described bad things in a good way and good things in a bad way. It’s like he doesn’t try to make his work “fancy” like many writers do. Last point is that I expected the phonetically written dialogues to be difficult to read, but this wasn’t the case at all. Again, it’s a very naturally written story and it was great to be able to immerse myself in it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, and Rape

clemencepct's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Rape, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

pawtory's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Honestly the most depressing thing I've ever read (maybe I Gevalia avoid that but good god). Realistic to the point of hopelessness. I know terrible people and situations exist but there was no relief here for Shuggie. I think he had a handful of people shown his life who weren't completely  awful? It was well written, but if I could tell past me to skip this one I would. The content warnings are quite serious. I would only rec this book if you  need to read about stuff that's so awful anything in your life will seem better in comparison...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Rape, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Homophobia, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Terminal illness and Religious bigotry

elharpwhy's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Rape, Pedophilia, Death, Classism, Bullying, Addiction, and Alcohol

annievgu's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Complex characters, beautifully written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Death, Bullying, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

aw_katie's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Addiction, Sexual assault, Blood, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexual violence, Bullying, Rape, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Homophobia, Classism, Vomit, Self harm, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Hate crime

bookshelfhannah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Homophobia, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

josiee123's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.5

 it was an absolute masterpiece, I can't stop thinking about it. It's raw, and heartfelt, and devastating.. and funny. The dry Scottish type of humour and sparks of hope in horrendously bad situations. I think I want to read it again soon, and also read Young Mungo because it follows some of the same characters i think. It was an 11/10 and I need to go back to visit Glasgow as soon as possible 🥹 if you're reading it or plan to, I mean there's a lot of brutal violence so if that's not your thing, maybe don't. Several times i had to put it down for a few weeks. But, there's a good review essay about how the novel mirrors romantic relationships between man+woman with the mother and son and how the blurred relationship makes it so difficult for Shuggie to leave his struggling mother, the imagery is really powerful and almost every character draws empathy except for the nasty bastards that you're compelled to hate. But everyone is given a full characterisation 🎉

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Rape, Alcoholism, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Child death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Misogyny, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

mrslsmith's review against another edition

challenging dark funny hopeful sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Vomit, Addiction, Rape, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt