Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

If You Tell by Gregg Olsen

18 reviews

bookishwhims's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

5.0

This was perhaps one of the darkest  and most disturbing books I have ever read. What made this book even harder to stomach is that this isn't a work of fiction.
 If you are going into this account of the heinous crimes of Shelly Knotech with the expectation of getting answers as to "why" a person does something like this or what turned her into a person who could do these things, you will be disappointed. The goal of this book is to tell the story of her victims and perhaps her longest-suffering victims, her daughters. This is the story of three sisters' horrific abuse at the hands of the person(s) meant to love and protect them most in the world. I'm not  leaving this book with all the answers I'd like nor am I leaving feeling as though justice was achieved, but that is true with most crimes. 
This book and this story, I fear, is going to stick with me for a very long time.

*Check tw*
*audiobook*

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

jessikkaha's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.0

It’s hard to give this book such a high rating for the difficult content it contained. But the retelling of this story and how it brought to light stories of abuse was very well written. Sending so much positive energy and peace to the girls. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

csimonsensays's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

anusplugger's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This story was truly heartbreaking to read and to know that these were true events were frightening. There are people out there who are like Shelly out in the world living without facing any consequences for their sadistic actions and it's so sickening . My heart goes out to all of the victims and victims family who were involved in all of this. There were moments in the story where I got frustrated with the victims because I kept thinking this was all fictional, but I had to take a deep breath to remember that these were true events. And if I were in their shoes, I myself would have done the same as them. However some people in the story should have been more involved and should have taken more action.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting

serenaann's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Self harm, Terminal illness, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

bhahnert's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

spookysierra's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

asmokeybear's review

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

twistykris's review

dark sad tense slow-paced

3.75

The abuse and torture so many endured at the hands of Shelly (and Dave) is absolutely horrific. A very difficult read for the content involved (PLEASE check trigger/ content warnings).

I understand how difficult it must have been to compile all of this information from multiple people, but at times the book felt very repetitive and used a lot of unnecessary metaphors. 

Also, I have

VERY little sympathy for Dave. Yes, he was abused by Shelly and being a victim of someone so terrifying can alter your mentality, I know. But you CANNOT tell me he didn't know that what she was doing was so fucking wrong. He literally shot and killed his own nephew because she told him to. He watched his wife abuse her children and grown adults. He says he didn't know bleach was bad for the skin and thought it was fine that Shelly made Ron soak his feet in boiling water and bleach?? HUH?! And the fact they're both OUT AND FREE? Disgusting.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism and Animal cruelty

cfarron's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Excrement, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail