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This book deals with many major dark themes, namely: child death, child abuse, mental illnesses, self-harm, violence towards girls, and sexualizing of young girls. We have situations where young girls and tweens are preyed upon. That is fine to discuss; this sadly happens in real life. Nothing wrong having conversations about that.
But I do not like the constant sexual descriptions of these young girls. The main character is the sister of one of those girls. She describes her sister (and other young tweens) in detail about their bodies. It's disgusting and wholly unnecessary. Multiple times this grown woman is pointing out how attractive these girls look and bringing up sex. It's awful!
Here's examples of some descriptions:
But the piggy middle child, who now waddled dazedly into the room, was destined for needy sex and snack-cake bingeing.
All those milk-fed, hog-fed, beef-fed early years. All those extra hormones we put into our livestock. We'll be seeing toddlers with tits before long.
I pulled her nightgown over her head. Her nakedness was stunning... the slightest down in a wilted thatch between her legs. Full voluptuous breasts. Thirteen.
This could have been written better, but the over-sexualization of girls is too much to overlook.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
тут майже немає героїв, яких ви полюбите, або заради яких продовжуватимете читати. але ви відчуєте співчуття чи не абсолютно до всіх, особливо якщо вам настільки ж притаманна емпатія як мені.
і ви читатимете далі, бо навіть попри всю потворність характерів героїв, їхні травми та вашу осоружність до подій, що відбуваються — зупинитися майже неможливо.
маленьке нудне містечко, де поколіннями зростають огидні люди та їхні травми, що наростають одна на одну, й щораз міцніше тверднуть, ніби лава після виверження вулкану. поки не стається щось подібне.
хоча ні, вони й далі наростатимуть.
про кожного з більш-менш головних героїв я можу написати окремий допис чисто зі своїми враженнями 🥹
а потім ще пару десятків сторінок про родину головної героїні та її саму.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Self harm, Medical trauma
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Alcoholism, Vomit
Minor: Pedophilia
wow. what can i even say? i have to admit i’d heard a lot of people saying how disturbing this book was but even when i was four chapters deep i didn’t think it was that bad. however, the more i read, the more i understood just how unnerving this book was.
everything in it feels wrong. the story is horrifying, all of the characters are fucked up, and it just seems to get worse and worse as the story unfolds.
i did like more about this book than i disliked. the story was interesting, the ending floored me, and the writing was strong throughout. what bothered me were the way some of the topics were addressed.
i do understand that camille is somewhat of an “antihero” or morally grey character. i can’t tell if she is supposed to be likable whatsoever but i found myself so repulsed by her. of course i felt bad for her because of the relationship with her mother and her struggles with self harm, but the way she sexualize children,
i was definitely intrigued by sharp objects but there’s no doubt that it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth now that i’m done.
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Grief, Suicide attempt, Alcohol
I have a couple more of Flynn's books on hold from the library, so it will be interesting to see how she grows as a writer and if she can clear whatever this je ne sais quoi hurdle is.
Also, this isn't a real make-or-break thing, but how flexible is Camille
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Classism
Moderate: Infidelity, Vomit
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol