Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Särmikäs Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

222 reviews

alessandrams's review against another edition

4.5

dark funny sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Pregnancy

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Medical content, Death of parent

Minor: Chronic illness, Infertility, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Alcohol

chelleanne's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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 Having just put down Strange Sally Diamond, I have mixed feelings about this book. The story centres on a middle-aged Sally, who has spent her life struggling to fit in.  After the death of her adoptive father, Sally discovers that key events from her past have been kept from her. These events go a long way to explaining why Sally is the way she is. The story then follows Sally as she tries to build a life for herself and cope with all that has happened.

A caution before heading into this book. It does explore some dark themes, including extreme childhood trauma. If that’s not for you, give this book a miss.

Things I enjoyed about this book-

- the underlying premise for the book was great. It allows the reader to unpick the core mystery of who Sally is and what happened to her in a really natural and unique way.
- I enjoyed watching the small adjustments that Sally made to her life. It was fascinating to watch her grow and falter as a character.
- the flawed nature of so many characters. They often act in complex and unlikable ways, but are also relatable

-The ending,

whilst it was sad to see Sally’s decline and her alienation from those in the community, it felt somehow right. Sally had endured to much to get a happily ever after.

Things I didn’t love-
- it’s a small thing, but

Sally’s first meeting with Mark felt out of character for both of them. The fact the Sally meets with Mark alone in and unfamiliar environment was difficult to believe. Added to this, Sally displays a level of emotional self awareness that isn’t consistent with her prior or subsequent behaviour. During this meeting, Mark goes from having stalked Sally for months and being obsessed with Sally and using information from Sally to find Geary to being seemingly reasonable. It felt off for for both characters.

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Tom being outed as physically abusive towards Jean at the end of the book, seemed an unnecessary twist. He was already a flawed father. He allowed Sally to remain isolated, did little to prepare her for life after his death and  his approach to Sally and her treatment and past were driven by his own ego,. This twist turned him from a nuanced and deeply flawed character to a villain.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent

lavenderwitch's review against another edition

3.75

dark funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic

lue_moon's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I'm still sitting with how I'm feeling about this book...particularly the ending. It felt pretty well paced, intriguing, and took some dark turns that were interesting to read. I really liked the relationships Sally developed with her friends and some of the development around her character. I did get thrown off a bit by the inclusion of the pandemic at the end (wasn't expecting it and it brought it back closer to the real world, which I usually pretend I don't exist in while reading 🙃).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault

my_a's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 24%

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Horrific stories like this happen in real life, but not sure how I feel about people writing fictionalised versions. Not the type of story I want to read or expected. I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I knew. Now I've started I do want to know what happened, but I'm not reading it all to find out. 

The writing is also very basic and 2D, just plot-driven. More fool me for believing the booksta hype!  A shame as I wanted it to live up to the hype.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent

Minor: Forced institutionalization

its_jennyybean's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Car accident, Death of parent

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Lesbophobia

abbysingh's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Body horror, Suicide, Car accident

fluffy1st's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence

Moderate: Racism, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail

spookymartinireads's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I thought my family was f****d up 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Car accident, Sexual harassment

gigibaiao's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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A deeply disturbing but unfortunately realistic book. Very interesting to read, but some moments were so horrific that they made me nauseous. Beware of triggers, as this book has many. I loved reading this book, but at the same time it made me sick. I felt anxious and sad about living in a reality where such sad things happen, and it made me cry. This book made me realise that thrillers on these subjects are not for me, even though they have a high literary quality. The author really took care to illustrate the places and people of certain nationalities accurately, and that impressed me positively.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic