Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

131 reviews

pkc's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

It would be weird to summarise a book like this by saying whether I “enjoyed it” or not. It’s not the sort of the book where there’s much to enjoy in terms of a bleak plot and a pervading sense of hopelessness. I will say, there are snatches of poetic writing in amongst the darkness that Kiara, the protagonist is subject to. I also think Kiara is an excellently realised protagonist. Her arc is perfectly plotted and it’s easy to follow her story and invest in her life. 

I will say though, if you’re looking for a neat and traditionally happy resolution, this book won’t do it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

celesteleila's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

A heartbreaking read that was so deeply grounded in devastating realities that people lived. I felt a deep sense of humility after reading this book and I’ll be thinking about this story for a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

zids's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Gonna start by saying my rating is generous. I liked the authors note better than the book.
I have never been annoyed by first person until this story. Kiara isn't an annoying character, but she constantly 'realises' 'doesnt understand' 'wonders' things about the characters around her. The author, Leila Mottley, is a poet, which I could've guessed from the prose, which bombarded me with flowery sentences about Every Single Thing the character witnesses and experiences.
I couldn't help but think of that scene from the trailer of American Fiction, where Issa Rae's character says "Where's OUR representation?" before reading an excerpt from her book thay goes "Yo Sharonda, girl you be pregnant again??" I tried not to think about it cause it seemed harsh, but still.
I am not from Oakland and have never experienced desperation like this. I don't know if I'm bad for hoping for a positive ending. To me, the story was too bleak. Kiara had zero allies except for Trevor, who was so young that she needed to shield him from the truth of what happened to her. And after everything she experiences, after her best friend and her brother disavow her for her work (they come around but still, my ass would NOT have forgiven them), after being dragged into media spotlight and humiliated by the police, she gets nothing. The story ended on a kind of lighthearted note? She has consensual sex for the first time and Trevor comes to see her, it just doesn't feel satisfying considering the shit they put her through.
Not that stories need to have a happy ending, this just felt in serious want of one.
I hope I'm not being too brutal. I was tossing up between a Three (I didn't enjoy reading this book) and a four (it had something important to say, very beautiful language, and I think promises much from the author's future) So I settled on a 3.5.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Abandonment

bessadams's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Self harm, Violence, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

baratheonbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Abandonment

f3li's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense slow-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? No

4.0

A really difficult read because of the weight of the content but I’m grateful for the representation this gives to survivors/victims of police violence

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, and Suicide

Minor: Transphobia and Vomit

ireadtoescape_'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Rape, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Transphobia

zoinkie's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

_meeg's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

anna_in_the_spring's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

2.5

Rating this book is really difficult. I can tell that it is a good book. It just really wasn't for me.
The writing is lyrical, which I only like sometimes. While I thought it was okay in this book, maybe that was because I had a much bigger problem with the language that is being used. In dialogue and sometimes also in internal speech African American dialect is being used. And I hated that. Let me explain. I am a non-native English speaker with dyslexia. Slangs and dialects in written English ( and any other written language I understand) irritate me greatly. I am at a level of reading comprehension with regular English where I can just read the text. Written dialects trigger my dyslexia and slow me down a great deal and make understanding difficult. They are like another foreign language. And I don't have the energy to deal with that. I just want to read a book, not struggle with a language that to me, who had such a hard time learning the original language, seems just wrong and like someone is playing a malicious prank on me. 
I understand that this is not the intention and I don't have a problem with the existence of dialects. Just with having to read them. I try avoiding these kind of books.
I still struggled through the book , skimming over some parts, because it is a good book. And I understand why the language is as it is. It just wasn't for me. That's fine. 
I didn't enjoy the plot, but I don't think you're supposed to. I'm not a big fan of tragedies, so again, not really for me. The subject matter is also thankfully very far removed from me. Still, if the dialect hadn't been there, I might have been able to enjoy the book, the way one enjoys a tragedy. Like this, I was never really able to get into it.  But without the dialect it would have been a different book. So, again, this was just not for me. And that's fine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Drug use, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Police brutality, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Alcohol