Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

7 reviews

paulawind's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

What the fuck was this book. Do I so severely lack media literacy skills or intercultural reference skills that most of this book left me thoroughly confused? Paul being a severely unreliable narrator also wasn’t helping to judge the actions and motivations behind them of any character but Pablo. In the end

we find out that Julian genuinely loved Pablo with his whole heart, all cruelty was just Paul’s interpretation, Julian desperately wanted Pablo to love him, even orchestrating murder with him

. Having said that I still don’t understand the motivations of characters by the end. They seemed to be taking 180 every chapter, are they in love, are they not, is Paul just self-loathing or is he actually criminally insane? Getting inside his head made me feel dirty. But then again this is a book, according to the author, about queer isolation and how we are still perceived as “the other”, which is only layered with other marginalisations. And I can see it in the book but there are still so many other points and themes the novel is touching on that leave me confused and they didn’t seemed to be resolved by the end. Or, as I said in the beginning, I just didn’t get it and the metaphors and symbolism was actually really straightforward and I’m just stupid. Which would be very valid, I think ever since exiting academia I am using brain cells at the exponential pace 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Eating disorder, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Violence, Murder, Self harm, Alcohol, Blood, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Classism, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

fieldfarmer's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Oh man what do I even begin to say about these fictional gay people. To start with, Nemerever's writing is absolutely beautiful and sucked me in right in the first few pages. It's no real secret that I love queer mutual obsession and possession, and this hit that so hard. Paul's desire to break their rib cages open and to fuse them into one was what really sold me on how much I love these boys despite their glaring flaws. Their logic games, both the illegal and philosophical ones, were so capturing I almost wanted to join. I read this on the anniversary of my own father's death, and some of Paul's thoughts about his own father's death struck me so deeply I had to pause. Crying over this book was 100% worth it, and it's one of my favorite reads of the entire year.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Homophobia, and Child abuse

mimeflower's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Homophobia, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

enyltiak's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and Stalking

Moderate: Homophobia, Classism, Child abuse, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Cursing, Drug use, and Suicide

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Genocide, and Vomit

iridaceae's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and War

Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Colonisation, Drug use, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gun violence, Police brutality, Racism, Torture, and Vomit

julesloyola's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Car accident

biblioleah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

this book reads like heartache. it is a book about people who are hurting and in turn want to hurt the world for what it’s done to them. it is not a love story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship