Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

21 reviews

celery's review

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-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

4.75

How many different words do you need to describe a vagina?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Child death, Classism, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Violence, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, Gore, Racism, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Drug use, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Animal death, Incest, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, and Sexual assault

clairelisebella's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0

I can’t put my finger on why this book didn’t work for me. It had a lot of good things going for it — I love magical realism, multi-gen family sagas, and a dark/macabre tone. But it just didn’t land. The pacing was off, the format with the sporadic transcripts and asides from Ona were unbalanced, and the intermixed Spanish felt distracting instead of immersive. I inched through it and I’m glad I finished it, but I didn’t have anything pushing me forward. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

Minor: Vomit, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Alcoholism, and Pregnancy

moon_peach's review

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This story uses multiple perspectives through different characters. All the Marte women have suffered some trauma in different forms. 
Something to note is we aren't necessarily given a resolution to any of their trauma, however it (mostly) ends hopeful for most of them if not bittersweet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Infertility, Miscarriage, Mental illness, and Infidelity

tahsintries's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Death of parent

Moderate: Misogyny, Alcoholism, Grief, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, and Blood

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and Excrement

bedtimesandbooks's review

emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Infertility, Grief, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Death, Sexual assault, Violence, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual content

snackykennedy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Death, Infidelity, and Infertility

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Misogyny, and Sexual content

Minor: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

beingmrsbeer's review against another edition

I just couldn’t deal with the writing style and graphic descriptions anymore. Not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Excrement

laura_lin's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is one of my favorites I’ve read this year. I loved the nuanced bonds between multiple generations and the shifting perspectives. I especially appreciated the cast of characters listed in the beginning as someone who loses track easily.
This author touched on a lot of sensitive topics in such a palatable relatable way. And I loved challenging myself to use context clues to translate the Spanish sprinkled throughout. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, and Sexual content

Minor: Child abuse

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcoholism, Infertility, Infidelity, Child abuse, Mental illness, Police brutality, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Miscarriage

achay91's review

emotional slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Infertility, Animal death, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content

Moderate: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, and Grief