Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

152 reviews

maggieoc_x's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Kidnapping, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

amanda_mh's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

3.5

I really like it , it’s a sad book but a great start to the series 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This series had been on my radar for well over a decade, but I didn't have the motivation to start until I was in a book club that has it on the reading list. The vibe of the whole thing is a bit Dickens meets Roald Dahl with less of the child slavery and fart jokes. I can't stand Roald Dahl, so it you're a fan at least you are aware of my bias.

The tone of the story is charming and peppered with conversational notes for children on vocabulary and grammar ("vocabulary and grammar", in this sense means, the words that are used, and in which order, so that they make good sense.) I laughed at parts of the story such as when a child is reading late at night and is so tired that he repeats the same part over and repeats the same part over and repeats the same part over.

I find it a little irksome that to have scary adult characters they lean into the body horror, caricaturing an amputee with two hooks for hands and a fat, gender indeterminate person with white eyes. It's a bit circus freakshow, and challenges my desire for positive representation of Disability. Call me a snowflake, I dare you.

For a book that ostensibly has nothing but unfortunate happenings, sad beginnings, and sad endings, I was still not surprised that the children use their extensive resourcefulness to solve problems. It would be utterly unengaging if there was no hope, but the whole point is that these children are relatively irrepressible (which means that compared to most people, they don't let unfortunate or difficult things stop them). Yes the ending faces them with a new valamity, but such is the way with serial stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

dreamerfreak's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

thechocolatefinger's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, and Grief

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism and Fire/Fire injury

The adult/minor relationship (villain adult man with 14-year-old girl) isn’t real, it’s a

fake marriage

but they do discuss it quite in depth (nothing sexual/romantic, but she imagines having to sleep in the same bed). Many evil adults are creepy towards the children calling them “pretty” and “beautiful” but it’s not supposed to be genuinely paedophilic. Alcoholism is that they call Count Olaf “a drunk” and say he drinks too much wine.

thecavewoman's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Fire/Fire injury

bookaholic_in_wonderland's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

mckiheather's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.5

Having seen the Netflix show a couple times and finally getting to read it, it’s such a good story because I don’t think there’s really any other story like it and it’s told in such an interesting way. I think the audiobook format also adds to that story telling in a really interesting way.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

indieandajean's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny informative mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Violence, and Death of parent

micaelacccc's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Why is this marketed to children? So so so creepy and gave me the ick at Count Olaf and the men who thought Violet was a "pretty thing"

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Grief