Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

We the Animals by Justin Torres

25 reviews

dawntin's review

emotional 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

2.5

I did not like the author’s writing style. This book is semi-autobiographical, but it felt like it was hinting at something I couldn’t quite get the whole time. There were moments that seemed like they were going to lead up to something more but never did, like when the narrator’s mother was

being cared for by her female supervisor and the supervisor kisses her. Maybe it was to show the mother possibly being queer but in the closet? I’m not sure, and it was never mentioned again.

There was such a heavy focus on the narrator’s childhood that the ending felt like it came out of nowhere, since there was little buildup to it. The whole book made me uncomfortable, and I get that it’s probably the purpose of the book, but it just was not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexual content and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Forced institutionalization

gotnoculture's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Bullying and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

during a later scene the boys are shown incest pornography by a neighborhood teen and this scene is quite troubling

nikkiehippie0's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

There is nothing in this world I like better than a book that feels alive and lived in. We The Animals is such a heartbreakingly perfect slice of a life in a book. It gives you a these glorious views into a group of brothers and their parents so fiercely in love and connected to each other it hurts them all. Every word, every line in this book is well placed and matters. Nothing is drawn out or wasted. Torres paints pictures with his prose that leave you aching when he is done. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Homophobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Child abuse

gabiy's review

emotional fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

cardiffbabs's review

challenging emotional fast-paced

4.0

Fierce, poetic, challenging 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

dgrstory's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse

yleavy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Outing, Mental illness, Child abuse, and Homophobia

specificwonderland's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

In a way, not too much happened in this brief novella. In another way, so much happened. To list out the plot points is novella-length, a truncated bulleted list. To describe the characters' inner workings is a much larger project. I felt for these brothers and their survival. You could see how Paps exerted his influence but the kids didn't fully shrink away or lose themselves until the final threads of the story got woven. He exerted his influence on the mom from day 1, to everyone's detriment. You could feel the helplessness of the kids being swept along with the parents' bullshit. You hope kids are well cared for by competent parents but that's not always the case. Parents can just be people, and people are imperfect to some degree. And what a cast of ancillary characters: the neighbor, the bus driver and the mom's coworker Camrade. Re: the neighbor, it's infuriating that kids could be outside bouncing a ball yelling about the abuse they were bearing and the neighbor would be like, 'Hmmm this is a perfect time to show neglected kids incest porn'. But you know that happens in small towns, big towns, rich towns, poor towns. These kids never stood a chance, but they had each other.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Rape

sorenzs's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Beautiful writing style. Beautiful book. Some parts were hard to get through - in the emotional sense - but I couldn’t stop reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Outing

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Alcohol, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Rape, Incest, and Pedophilia

Minor: Infidelity and Addiction

kananineko's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Abandonment, Body horror, Cursing, Homophobia, Outing, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Racism, Alcohol, Blood, Self harm, and Bullying