Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark by Cassandra Peterson

16 reviews

thesonnetsilence's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Infertility, Miscarriage, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism

Minor: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Body shaming

throwback682's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Cancer and Suicidal thoughts

While Peterson calls out the misdeeds of some famous folks, she recounts her friendship with other problematic people.

leahkarge's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Sexual content, Body shaming, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

marigoldgem's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

*PLEASE check the trigger warnings before hand* 
I grew up loving Elvira and all things strange and unusual. Now I just love her more and admire Cassandra so much for being so bad ass. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Addiction, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Grief, Murder, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

picking_back_up's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal death

annayareads's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

This book is a wild ride for a wild public figure. Elvira's charm oozes through the pages (which are jam-packed with celebrity encounters by the way). Towards the end, Yours Cruelly gets more emotional. All I can say is it's never too late for love. From someone else or yourself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

ponydanza's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual content, Stalking, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

doomluz's review

emotional funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I loved this! Mostly I checked this out because I had heard how she came out as being married to another woman, but that doesn’t come up until the last few chapters. Peterson recounts her childhood and adolescence, but also a lot of the celebrities she’d met throughout her life. It had humor and some interesting stories, but she also went into some of the hardships she's endured.
The only thing that bugged me was in Chapter 15, when she spoke about sexual assault and rape. She used a hypothetical example for men to understand how rape can be terrifying by describing being overpowered by a man. Then she explained that she used a man in the example because if it was a woman it would actually be more of a fantasy for most men. The hypothetical example felt unnecessary, but the main problem is that this kind of logic makes it harder for male victims to find support, especially if the woman is more conventionally attractive.
Other than this, I loved hearing about how she got the role of Elvira and what that was like.
I also recommend listening to the audiobook. My partner made me realize that memoirs read by the author feel more personal. Peterson has a great voice and I think the humor and emotions come through a lot stronger.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Body shaming

Minor: Cancer, Death, Death of parent, and Drug use

mixyplixl's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Body shaming

Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, and Death of parent

littleredhat's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Have you ever seen that viral tweet about someone hearing the expression "Dress for the job you want", and winding up sat in a disciplinary meeting dressed as the Goblin King? Well, if that was me, I'd be there as Elvira. The Queen of Halloween with a deep love of the dark. Incredibly funny and witty, and fully aware of her sexiness, whilst never solely being a sex object. I was a fan from the second I saw clips of "Movie Macabre", and when this popped up on my audiobook service recently, I knew I had to snap it up. 

Written around her 70th birthday (I can't believe it either), Cassandra Peterson - Elvira's actress and creator - takes us right through her life - from her troubled childhood where an accident left her badly scarred, to her days as a go-go dancer and Vegas showgirl, up to her metamorphosis into the Mistress of the Dark and the years beyond. 

Whilst being packed to the hilt with funny and even spooky stories, Peterson's memoir also covers her many experienced hardships. In terms of content warnings, I will say that almost any sort of abuse or assault you can think sadly of features here, as well as addictions, miscarriages, and even murders. As such, the book is troubling and unnerving in places, but very moving: something about Peterson's warm, soothing narration made me able to stomach it. In fact, you admire her all the more for getting through everything she has faced. 

A must-read, or must-listen, for all Elvira fans.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Addiction, Rape, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Murder