Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

44 reviews

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

Why is the book being sympathetic to the white school shooter?????????

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Child death, Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Mass/school shootings, and Suicide

lthumphrey's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Bullying, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, War, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Pedophilia, Slavery, Alcohol, Cursing, and Rape

bryelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

Jake is such a lovable character. He is a medium who is dealing with high school and seeing ghosts. He starts to see the ghost of a teenage boy who is  torturing him. He has to solve some troubles from his past to defeat this ghost and banish him. 

Along the way Jake meets some friends who are in it for the long run. And also falls in love. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Mass/school shootings, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Alcohol, Murder, Pedophilia, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Rape, Suicide attempt, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, and Child abuse

Moderate: Outing and Slavery

schausjk's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Pedophilia, Blood, Gore, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Mental illness, Hate crime, Grief, and Child death

Minor: Drug use and Body horror

anouverlinden_'s review

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

this novel is too short for the idea to be fleshed out enough. Would this be a couple 100 pages longer it could have been better because now things were extremely vague and pretty much glossed over which caused some distance between the reader and the story. Nothing in this story meant anything to me because everything happened so fast without giving the reader time to proces everything that happened. it was okay but ultimately it fell very flat for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Emotional abuse, Rape, Homophobia, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Suicide, Racism, Physical abuse, Mass/school shootings, and Gore

the_wistful_word_witch's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

I loved this book, and it was a great spooky season read. This was an amazing, haunting, sad story that comes with a lot of trigger warnings. It's dark, complex, and reflective of a lot of the trauma that I think a lot of Black queer folk can relate to, apart from the ghost story. Luckily, there's just enough of a budding romance and new friendships to temper all the harsher emotions, so that the reader doesn't feel swamped by them.

Poor Jake is a bit beaten down by life in so many ways and just wants to be different from who he is: one of two Black boys in his school, gay, and never quite fitting in. Plus, the ability to see ghosts, spectres stuck in the moments leading up to their deaths, doesn't help, especially when a very violent ghost decides that Jake is the thing he wants most.

As a parent, I found this book so hard to read because it shows just how hard being a teenager can be, especially when things like racial and sexual identity, mental health, abuse, and bullying are thrown into the mix. I wanted to reach out to both Jake and Sawyer and give the hurting little boys inside them big hugs.

I really liked the way that Ryan Douglass resolves the story, though. It's a bright spark of renewed hope and life after all that darkness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Body horror, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Stalking, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual assault and Animal cruelty

Minor: Drug use

sweetmusic22's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

An awesome and important book! I love how when Jake delves deeper and deeper into Sawyer's story, it reveals something about him

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death, Rape, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Child abuse, and Hate crime

jo_lzr's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Gore, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Violence, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Rape and Pedophilia

her's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Homophobia, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Bullying, Murder, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Racism, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Mass/school shootings, and Incest

Minor: Drug use

abookandaspotoftea's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence