Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton

9 reviews

victoriaallegra's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual assault

story_of_steph's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

This book felt like homework. I was so excited to read a story about Australia from an Australian author since I moved here but I was honestly bored to tears. Only positive I have to say is you can truly see the love the author has for this country with the colourful descriptions of the scenery. But even that got a bit too much. I think the book had the potential to be a great story but it didn’t reach it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Body horror, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, War, and Child abuse

Moderate: Misogyny, Grief, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Animal death, Death of parent, and Addiction

Minor: Animal death, Infidelity, and Rape

merimyers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I don’t think I like Dalton’s writing style, but I enjoyed the telling of this story.  I’m not sure I could have read it, though there are some aspects of the narration that I didn’t enjoy either. I feel there is an overuse of descriptive nouns that is unnecessary, but again, think this is Dalton’s style, which I don’t seem to enjoy.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Minor: War and Infidelity

kiwialexa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Colonisation, Death of parent, Violence, Murder, Sexual assault, War, Child abuse, Gun violence, Grief, and Death

kazd's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious 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? No

4.0

Absolutely fabulous.   If you liked "Boy Swallows Universe" you'll LOVE this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism and Emotional abuse

salbathtub's review against another edition

dark inspiring mysterious reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Violence

sneako's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Cancer and Terminal illness

jameslyons's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I struggled to enjoy the first third of the book - way too dark, graphic and bleak for me. Most of it felt unnecessary and heavy handed, and I think Dalton could have started the book around page 200, but I was glad I pressed on if only to be transported into the magic of the outback for the rest of the book! And honestly, all these characters and not a single one of them is gay??? Same with Boy Swallows Universe. Hm.... Not exactly the "picture of Australia" his books are cracked up to be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

emilyrainsford's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• 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

He prefaced this story as he'd done every other time he told it, by acknowledging its more questionable narrative turns. 'For this story to reach your heart, son, you may need to swallow it down with a sprinkling of salt… You should write the facts of this story only on tissue paper. But you should carve its meaning in stone.'

This is a fairytale. But don't let that give you the wrong idea. Have you read the original fairytales? Those things were dark as fuck and so is this. 

It honestly got a bit much for me after a while - trauma after trauma piled on this young girl. It was around the point where she's forced to dig up her own mother's skeleton, and then finds her father's dismembered body, that my inner landscape started to consist mainly of that gif where that guy is just looking at the camera saying sincerely,  "Stop. Get some help."

I'd call this novel "genre defying". Don't let the pretty flowers on the cover fool you. It veers into the bizarre and macabre as often as it does the literary and hopeful. Perhaps more often. I honestly feel like Dalton has missed his calling as a horror writer. 

This book felt quite bleak to me. I didn't really find it hopeful or uplifting. But I think the frequent mentions of Shakespeare's tragedies - Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet - serve as a reminder that not all stories are happy ones. Sometimes a tragedy is just a tragedy. 

I felt like the scene where Tom Berry is telling the pub a tale was a parallel for the experience of reading this story. Dalton is spinning a yarn around the campfire. But where does story and truth intersect... maybe that's up to the listener to decide. 

I think, for me, above all, this was a love story. But not the way that might make you think. It was Molly and Greta's love story. Because there is no love on earth like that between a child and a mother - even if that love was born in hearts not bellies.

Dalton's writing is undoubtedly singular and superlative - I think even better than BSU. But this one felt heavier to me. Let's face it, I'd probably read the blurb on a pack of bog rolls if Dalton wrote it. But ngl, I wouldn't be complaining if the next one *wasn't* about a traumatised 12 year old child.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, and Rape