Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

3 reviews

queenshrike's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.5

I had to read this for a college course years ago. And I always meant to come back and read it again for myself. I've done that now, settled that in myself. 

This book is still so touching and so painful, even after all these years. I can't say I love it. But I felt it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Blood, Self harm, Pregnancy, Grief, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Suicide, Sexual content, and Panic attacks/disorders

abbie_'s review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

I picked up this copy of Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat secondhand, not realising that it was filled with someone else’s underlinings and notes in the margins. While I find it interesting to see other people’s thoughts (when I can decipher the handwriting), I find my eyes flicking to the annotations far too often and it takes me out of the story. I genuinely have a hard time remembering much about this book that I read two weeks ago because most of what I could concentrate on was the previous reader’s fixation on Danticat’s use of colours 🥲

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I do remember enough to tell you that this is a harrowing read filled with sadness. It explores mother-daughter relationships, examining how trauma is passed down from generation to generation. Sophie grows up in Haiti with her aunt after her mother moves to the US, and when she eventually sends for her, both women are forced to confront the past which still haunts them. It’s a very difficult read, with rape, sexual trauma and self-mutilation all playing a part, but I found it especially difficult to read the parts where mothers inflict the same violences they experienced at the hands of their mothers on their daughters, despite recognising the irreversible damage it will leave/did leave on them. The cycles are hard to break, but the ending (‘Ou libéré? Are you free, my daughter?’) does offer a small glimmer of hope.

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Despite the overwhelming pain of this novel, I’d quite like to read it again, with a clean copy this time, as I don’t feel I gave it the benefit of my full attention with all the annotations!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

sillyduckie's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Abandonment, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Blood, Child abuse, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Colonisation