Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Surface Breaks by Louise O'Neill

6 reviews

lateromantic's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring reflective sad fast-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

3.5

I didn't enjoy it as much as Louise O'Neill's other books I've read, but she did a wonderful job of extending The Little Mermaid and showing the queer and proto-feminist aspects of the story. Some bad language and sex references, though I would say the sex references are OK for young high school students as it teaches them about relating to healthy desires in a safe way and consent. More on-the-nose than her other books, but likely because it's aimed at a younger audience than them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Misogyny, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Gore, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Eating disorder

goldenslug's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Misogyny

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Eating disorder

mchalleyster's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

1.0

I was intrigued by the retelling. However, this book was full of anger and rage toward men. It very much had an agenda, which at times was exhausting. I kept waiting for it to iron out into something redemptive and balanced.

But even the ‘redemption’ in the ending was bursting with vengeance and hatred.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Rape, Blood, and Eating disorder

Minor: Physical abuse and Pedophilia

lsylvie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Self harm, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Homophobia

kimmyv's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Cursing, Child abuse, and Body shaming

frednamode's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Feminist retelling of the little mermaid?? One hundred percent

Some of the male characters were a little two dimensional, clearly only there as plot devices, the sexism was a little on the nose: ‘if she wasn’t my daughter...’ we all know how trump finished that sentence so I can’t say the author writes unrealistic characters, but the bad guys felt wholly bad and the good guys were faultless - it would have been nice to see more dimensions and moral dilemmas for our protagonist (but assuming this is targeted as a YA novel it makes sense)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual assault, and Eating disorder

Minor: Homophobia