Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

23 reviews

beankels's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Very glad I read the book, it had a rich story and cast of characters. I wouldn’t say that I “couldn’t put this down” but the plot still brought me back. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Alcoholism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Trafficking, Colonisation, Rape, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Alcoholism

maryfranvs's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexism, Addiction, Drug use, and Grief

Minor: Sexual content

rieviolet's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative 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? No

3.5

This is the first Louise Erdrich's book I've read and, all in all, I liked it. It was not a bad reading experience and I'd like to try out some of her other books.

The chapters are quite short so you can get through them quickly and the book doesn't really feel as long as it is. 
There are multiple point of views and it is interesting to experience so many different voices; still, inevitably, some characters were more captivating than others to me, and the overall narrative could feel a bit disjointed. 

I really appreciated how the author constructed the characters, they were flashed out well and felt very vivid on the page.
Also, I've read very few stories about Native American communities, so I enjoyed getting a glimpse into their history and culture.

It took me a bit to tune into the writing style, and there were still some bits where I struggled a little with the language and I'm not sure I really understood what was being said (but I am not a native speaker) or what was going on.

At times it got a touch strange for my personal taste 

just to name a few examples: dogs talking, chapters from a horse's POV, mention of a horse's vulva

, or the story took quite dark and disturbing turns abruptly, leaving me a bit discombobulated.

I wasn't completely sold on the ending, I think that a lot was left unexplored and untold, which is comprehensible given that there were a lot of narrative threads, but it still left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Death, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual content, Colonisation, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Medical content, Kidnapping, Violence, Gun violence, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic friendship, Dementia, Animal death, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Addiction, and War

stormwake's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Rape

booknerd_therapist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Genocide, Sexism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Addiction, Alcoholism, Racism, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, and Animal death

Minor: Deportation

waterbear0821's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring 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? No

4.25

As with any Pulitzer Prize winning literature, expect beautiful prose…and probably a sense of melancholy. Isn’t that the way of it? This book was excellent. It’s significantly based on the author’s ancestor and a real house resolution to terminate his tribe. The story contains rich historical details and it’s filled with both humor and sadness. I don’t read literature very often because my heart can’t always take it but I would recommend this without hesitation for the interesting, character-based story, the beautiful writing, and the history lesson. As a note, I listened to the audiobook version, which was read by the author - almost always hearing the book read by the author improves it and I suspect it did in this case. The writing shifts between perspectives of characters (and even objects) without warning but I had no trouble following these shifts while listening. I think the depth of perspective only added to the story. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Genocide and Sexism

Minor: Domestic abuse and Sexual content

xaixexai's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Racism

Minor: Colonisation, Gun violence, Confinement, and Hate crime

retroreader17's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad 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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Colonisation, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Racism, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Alcohol

booksmacked's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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? Yes

4.5

Thinking about it weeks later, because these are not lives I knew about or could have imagined. Knowing it’s based on real peoples experiences here in the United States kind of blows my mind. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Racism, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

Minor: Domestic abuse

nicnocs511's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Physical abuse and Domestic abuse