Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

214 reviews

sierrabowers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was amazing. It tells a unique and sad story of a girl who is conflicted and broken. As I read it reminded me of Perks of Being a Wallflower and Looking for Alaska. It was melancholic and sad but also hopeful and brought forth a lot of thoughts regarding current society and how we treat victims of abuse, rather than how they need to be treated. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

l_prelas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Animal cruelty

danielleisreading's review against another edition

I've been thinking about this book a lot (instead of doing my finals I might add) because this book is impossible not to think about once you've read it but probably not in the way Russell wants me to think about this book. Initially I wanted to give this book a solid 4 stars, the writing is good (although nauseating) and even if its dark and sensational perhaps different perspectives on rape culture is probably a good thing. However here is a list of this things that have made me think really hard about if this book is even endorsable.

-The authors favorite book is Lolita. I'm sorry but if that fact alone doesn't make you reconsider so much of this book I would probably be concerned for you.
-The author wrote significant portions of this book at 15. Oh and also she wanted originally to be a love story. With that in mind how much is this book supposed to be an expose on rape culture and not like a glorification of it?? Just thinking about the sex scenes knowing some of them could've been written by a 15 year old who thought this was a love story is just repulsive (not that they weren't already).
-Oh and also can we talk about how many teenagers read this book? Like teenagers her age. I don't even know what to say about that.
-Honestly the whole book in general.

I have a lot more thoughts, but honestly my general thoughts coming out of this book is just disgust which it should be but yeah I'm disgusted. side note: I just put in all the content warnings for this book and I want to throw up all over again, I need to do some serious mediation.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

matildamercury's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-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

5.0

Fantastically well written book that captures shame (in the younger years) and low self worth (in current day) in a special way. I listened to the audiobook which was a fantastic way to experience Vanessa. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

bookmark3brodi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

katreena's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

paige_reads89's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape

bookishchristiana's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

5.0

'“I can’t lose the thing I’ve held onto for so long, you know?” My face twists up from the pain of pushing it out. “I just really need it to be a love story, you know? I really, really need it to be that.” “I know,” she says. “Because if it isn’t a love story, then what is it”? I look to her glassy eyes, her face of wide open empathy. “It’s my life,” I say. “This has been my whole life.”' - Kate Elizabeth Russell, My Dark Vanessa.

This is a very sensitive book so I don't feel like I can give it my usual length or style of review. Essentially, this book is a modern kind-of Lolita except from the victim's perspective. It is very heavy and hard to get through; despite this I absolutely give it 5 stars. I finished this book I think about two weeks ago now but I had to sit with it a bit before writing a review. Although I am not a writer, I can see that writing this kind of book with sensitivity must be incredibly hard. There are so many parts of this book that had my skin crawling or full of anger. It's hard to put into words how exactly this book made me feel inside. It definitely elicited the feelings that Russell intended. DO NOT read this book if you cannot read about abuse, grooming, or non-consent. My Dark Vanessa seems to capture the feelings and experiences of a victim of grooming perfectly. Despite Vanessa's actions being endlessly frustrating and stress-inducing, I understood that this is how many people who have been groomed react (although I cannot speak for them as this is not my story to weigh in on). It is a very tough read and at times I hated it. Having to read the abuse was awful and, in some ways, I think parts could have been referred to rather than written so explicitly. I think there is a risk of certain explicit scenes that are written to depict the horrible actions of the groomer run the risk of being read by real-life groomers too. It makes me severely uncomfortable to think that someone may take the wrong things away from this book. At the same time though, perhaps such scenes needed to be written so as to properly demonstrate Vanessa's state as a character. I'm in two minds. Notwithstanding this, I still want to give this book 5 stars as I think it is something that will stick with me for the rest of my life. The writing and portrayal of a victim of grooming is impeccable. It is truly a much better portrayal of grooming (centring the victim's story) than Lolita ever could be. Do not read Lolita, read this (although, again, read the trigger warnings).  It may have been hard, but I am thoroughly glad I read it. - C x

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual violence

tangerines_35's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

leslieeb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Abandonment