Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed

11 reviews

chuckyinspace's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Child abuse, Rape, Pandemic/Epidemic, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Sexism, Terminal illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Suicide, Animal death, Blood, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Excrement, Confinement, Body horror, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Miscarriage, Medical content, and Infertility

jgrady93's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Child death

potsnpots's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

ifoundcallie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Rape, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Incest, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Miscarriage, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Vomit, Sexual assault, Infertility, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Confinement, Child death, Infidelity, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

nottoolate's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

Anyone considering reading this book should know that parent/child incest is an accepted part of the society that the story occurs in. 
Beyond that-I can only imagine the author is inspired by the many insular fundamentalist Christian groups in America. It is a multiple pov story, with each character giving away small pieces that paint a horrifying picture of the society these poor girls live in. A dark but compelling story I couldn't stop reading.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Rape, Child death, Murder, and Incest

twistykris's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I truly struggle to review this book. There are a lot of mixed feelings. It feels wrong to rate a book with such disturbing content in it highly.

Some might call the writing "flowery," but I found it to be beautiful and engrossing. The descriptions of the children running freely during the summers left me feeling nostalgic and entranced. The descriptions of the horrors made me sick to my stomach.

I appreciate that all of the perspectives are told from 4 girls, ranging from 13-17. This is their story, their journey, their sorrows and trauma, their love and triumphs.

There are very disturbing references to normalized, societal incest in this book. I struggled reading certain sections depicting overt abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual) of girls, young teens, and women. When reading disturbing content like this, I often wonder how the author could possibly get such imagery, and I wonder if it's for "shock value" more than anything. But after reading about Jennie's experience working with traumatized and sexually abused children, it made me understand that this was not "shock value" content, but a deep understanding. Jennie is knowledgeable of what she is portraying and does it well.

An uncomfortable read that will stick with me for a long time. Rating may be updated in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Suicide, Ableism, Alcoholism, Death, Blood, Child abuse, Rape, Sexism, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, and Misogyny

Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Grief, and Excrement

Minor: Body shaming and Bullying

This book has references to child abuse and incest between fathers and daughters. While it isn't overly graphic and a lot of the abuse is implied, it is an integral part of the story and can be very difficult to read. The author, Jennie Melamed, "is a psychiatric nurse practitioner who specializes in working with traumatized children. During her doctoral work at the University of Washington, she investigated anthropological, biological, and cultural aspects of child sexual abuse."

rebyreadsandwrites's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Blood, Confinement, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Violence, Medical content, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Ableism

forgottenangstycharacter's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Grief, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

kitten_nuisance's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This was a very heavy book. It was well-written and richly imagined, and that’s great for reading, but also ups the disturbing factor when the subjects and ideas are so dark. I had to keep taking breaks, but actually, I could bring this up to five stars. I think this story needed to be heard.

Lots of content notes for almost all the things. I really appreciated the relative lack of animal suffering. Melamed didn’t use animals to up the stakes; she left their innocent lives alone, and I love her for that.
One content note I felt really needed to be there, but haven’t seen so far in reviews, is disordered eating. If that is something you have a history with, you should know that one character restricts in an extreme way, and it’s part of what gives her any control of her life (not just appearance). 
Actually far from the most upsetting part, though!… I have this weird feeling where I almost want to know more and less at the same time. A lot of topics are talked “around,” and you know what they mean, but it’s so hard to believe that it’s kind of like… maybe you really want someone to sit down and say it straight out. (I don’t mean the main gross thing that we learn is normal in this society. I’m good on that. 👍 But there are a LOT of details about how their society works that I want to know. Really does give me the feelings I had reading The Giver for the first time 25 or so years ago.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Incest, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, and Sexism

Moderate: Rape

Stillbirth

morganperks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Mental illness, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Murder