Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Our Best Intentions by Vibhuti Jain

6 reviews

jocy_chick's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Bullying, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Violence

schnurln's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Abandonment, Racism, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Car accident, Bullying, and Death

nursemelissa19's review

challenging emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Abandonment, Bullying, and Violence

Discussion of abuse/molestation in the past, mostly themes of racism/classism

serendipitysbooks's review

emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

 Our Best Intentions opens with a young Indian-American woman discovering a wealthy, white male schoolmate stabbed and bleeding on their school grounds. A Black female student is implicated. What follows is an incisive interrogation of the intersection of power, privilege and prejudice. The author did a brilliant job at evoking all my emotions, particularly rage at the entitlement and audacity, of the white, male characters and their manipulative, self-serving, self-delusional behaviour, plus a deep-seated sense of dread, worrying about the fates of Angie and Chiara. Race and class are obviously explored, but the novel also looks at the impact of abandonment and abuse, as well as questions relating to belonging. This was a propulsive page turner that really packed a punch. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Racism

Moderate: Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

mbergman's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

2.0

The writing is, at best, high school creative writing. The low quality made the book really hard to get through. The plot was melodramatic and details incredibly unrealistic and superfluous. I had high hopes based on the NPR endorsement and the description, but wish that I hadn’t wasted the time it took to read it. With such a rich, complex topic to tackle, it felt shallow and simplistic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Classism, Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Racism

mysterymom40's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, Abandonment, Classism, Drug use, and Bullying

Minor: Medical content