Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Difficult Women by Roxane Gay

34 reviews

megmoore123's review

dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

davisbb's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Trafficking, and Vomit

victoriarad's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

1.0

Made it about halfway and I just had to allow myself to call it quits. It was too gruesome, depressing, uncomfortable, every awful topic explored in this dark world we live in.
And I understand how some things are meant to make the reader uncomfortable but sitting there wincing, in pain, having a visceral reaction and feeling just plainly icky is not any kind of reading I want part in. Was it dang good writing? Yes. Effective? Yes. But not my taste at all. Life's too short to suffer through something that makes me sick. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

themodelreader's review

challenging dark tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Abandonment, Body shaming, Car accident, Classism, Death, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Infertility, Sexual content, War, Physical abuse, and Racism

klarastrube's review

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Child death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

elizabethladd's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

reasek's review

challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Rape

Moderate: Child abuse and Racism

Minor: Child death

saoirsebb's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Racism, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Incest, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Sexual assault, Rape, Grief, Child death, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

aprilhinkle's review

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

This book illuminated that the thing that makes women "difficult" is trauma, often inflicted by men, and the pain of trying to navigate that truama in a patriarchal world where you are always an object before you are a person. I was pulled fully into each story and thought I couldn't possibly read the next chapter unless it was about those same characters, but then I'd immediately get sucked into that next story and be fully engrossed all over again. This book exposes a dark, often unexamined place. It does offer some healing stories and hope, although on the whole I would not call this a hopeful book. A couple days after finishing it the taste of the book still lingers. This book is bewitching, for better or for worse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

anniefwrites's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

I’d never read Roxane Gay’s fiction before, but it’s just as searing as her essays. Every story sucked me in in a way I haven’t quite experienced with a short story collection before, and the discomfort I felt around the women featured in the stories was surely intentional. Her language is straightforward without lacking emotion, and she tackles traumatic and painful events with a brave incisiveness. Not for the faint of heart, but worth a read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Infertility, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and War