Reviews tagging 'Rape'

We the Animals by Justin Torres

11 reviews

vivvs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

read in 2 hrs … just didn’t strike enough of a chord with me to get over 3 stars. heartbreaking though. 

everyone who says it was “too perverse” has never read anything heavy. the metaphors and symbolism were conveyed just fine for me. if you aren’t ready for a book that talks about sex in disgusting ways don’t start here i guess? …

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Homophobia

Moderate: Outing, Domestic abuse, and Rape

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

sassyram's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Rape, Sexual content, and Homophobia

librarymouse's review

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad

• 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

5.0

This book pulls at the threads of humanity, fraying the fabric until it's distilled to its purest parts. The narrator shows the core memories of childhood, building up into the moment of the fracturing of his family unit and the unit that was made up of his brothers. Their childlike, experimenting, queered, and crushed mother makes such a complex character, as does their father and the juxtaposition of his tenderness and machismo. This book is truly unsettling and full of life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Outing, Sexism, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcohol, Homophobia, and Incest

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

fructosebaby's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Outing, Domestic abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, and Alcohol

callmeamelia's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Violence and Racism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Rape, and Bullying

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? No

4.0

An interesting look at childhoods packed with trauma. Not a particularly uplifting read, but interesting (I think this is a novel in verse, but am not sure since I listened to the audio). Content warnings for domestic abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, sexual acts performed in front of children, homophobia, and forced institutionalization.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Alcohol, Child abuse, Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Outing, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Rape

Nonconsensual sex with a married partner, parents having sex in front of their children

tilo's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The writing style is beautiful in a way that is almost haunting. However, unfortunately, the story tried to build up to something that never really came and what was presented in the last chapters came out of left field so that I feel like it did not do justice to the important topic. The last chapters, therefore, ignored all other points that were brought up just to start something else last minute.
The book was said to be about three brothers "tightly bound and fiercely loyal to one another" which made me want to read it. Yet, despite few instances, most of the book was about the brothers differences, them bullying each other, and their bound consisted of them living in the same toxic household while doing the bare minimum to support each other.
A lot of interesting plotlines were hinted at, none of them explored. Those hints hooked me and made me want to finish it. I wanted to learn more about the characters, although they felt stereotypical, so I feel like a longer version of this book that took the time to explore the individual paths of the brothers (especially the oldest whom I expected to play a bigger role with the constant hints at his ideals and plans) would have really used the potential of this story. Alternatively, considering the powerful writing style, I feel like this could have been written in poems, catching the essence and rawness while only allowing glimpses that do not ask for further exploration.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Outing, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual content and Sexual violence

armontheroad's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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

5.0

WE THE ANIMALS is a semi-autobiographical debut written in vignettes. We follow a young Puerto Rican boy witnessing his family struggle through domestic abuse, alcoholism, financial hindrance, amongst other things. It is a raw, powerful study of humanity that packs a mighty punch in 128 pages. I highly implore you to view the list of trigger warnings I included, along with doing some additional research for any I may have forgotten. 

TW/CWs: Child abuse, domestic abuse, homophobia, child abandonment/neglect, sexual assault, rape, violence, adult/minor relationship, sexual content, forced institutionalization, conversion therapy, self-harm, ableism, alcohol use/abuse, misogyny, sexism, suicidal ideations etc.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Self harm, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Bullying, Blood, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence