Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Beloved by Toni Morrison

20 reviews

tinyjude's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child death, Pregnancy, Violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Racism, Physical abuse, Grief, Racial slurs, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, and Slavery

madddiebear's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Racism, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Slavery, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, and Physical abuse

batcaves's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Sexual content, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual assault, Child death, Colonisation, Classism, Sexual violence, Blood, Death, Dementia, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

captainroz's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Physical abuse

Minor: Terminal illness

ekmook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Death, Child death, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, and Toxic relationship

patterson_cj's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence

orlagal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, and Murder

readingpicnic's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

gracer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

 Took a while for me to gather my thoughts on this one. Toni Morrison really was an excellent writer, her command of the English language was exceptional, and there are many particularly notable passages in this book. Obviously the subject matter is not pleasant, but she made it haunting. Literally haunting, as in I had bad/weird/uncomfortable/crazy dreams two nights while reading this. One of them was bloody. So we can call this book a success.

A lot of what was going on here obviously went way over my head. I really wish I had read this in school, as so many of my classmates did, because so much of it left me thinking, "I don't get it!" But I did a bunch of research, and thinking, and some text message discussions with friends who had read it in school, and came to get a better idea of it, and I really enjoy it when a book makes me do that. When it requires thinking and when I am actually invested enough to turn to the secondary sources and get some clarification, then says very good things about the book.

That said, I'm still of two minds about it. One part, the five star part, recognizes that the use of language is excellent, the story is moving beyond what one could expect (I've been hearing about this book since I was 14 and yet nothing could have prepared me for this). The other part, the three star part, is aware that this is not the type of writing that I really love. I like books that are concise, that feel edited, that contain multitudes in their limited pages. I am not a great fan of descriptive passages. (For example, (view spoiler).) I assume that the reason I encountered that perceived wordiness here was partially because I am missing something and partially because it was written in the 80s, and for some reason I think of books from that time as being a little more... "flowery" is the word, although it's so completely wrong for this book. It also took me a long time to come around to magical realism, and I still sometimes grapple with it when I come across it.

So, four stars - and anyway stars don't really mean anything - as a compromise, and with the understanding that maybe I'll read this again some day. I hope I will. Maybe after I've gotten a little more exposure to stream-of-consciousness and magical realism. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Violence, Torture, Slavery, Racism, Racial slurs, Grief, Child death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual violence, Medical content, and Death of parent

allyofshalott's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I knew very little about this book prior to reading and yet it still surprised and destroyed me. This is my first foray into Morrison’s work and will definitely not be the last. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Toxic relationship, Slavery, and Racism

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, and Sexual assault