Reviews tagging 'Incest'

Very Cold People by Sarah Manguso

10 reviews

ncghammo's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Incest, and Child abuse

ktrain3900's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.0

What a strange book (and I like strange) but also so depressing I felt it was negatively affecting my mood. Every woman and girl had at least one trauma which made this lovely sparse prose and intriguing story so hard to read. I couldn't follow how the family could be poor enough to only afford the cheapest clothes and do so much shopping at the dump, yet they're buying a huge rich person's home (and no a death in the house doesn't depreciate value that much) nor did the year 1985, mentioned once, seem to fit the time (at least not when the story moved forward in time). My favorite part was when Ruthie imagined Winifred's life. I'm left feeling a bit empty, or at least grateful it ended when it did. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Incest, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Bullying, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual assault

rebekahvldz's review

challenging sad fast-paced

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

0.5

I can very confidently say this is the worst book I have ever read in my entire 25 years of living .I would've DNF'd but I had to read it for school. More thoughts to follow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Body horror, Incest, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Eating disorder, Confinement, Child abuse, and Sexual content

lil13's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Excrement, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Child abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, and Rape

zwin's review

dark reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Body shaming, Child abuse, Bullying, Mental illness, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, and Sexual violence

d3nim_diva's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Pedophilia

samhanson's review

dark sad fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Incest, Grief, Sexual assault, and Miscarriage

mjhalberstadt's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I love love love Sarah Manguso's 300 Arguments as well as much of her poetry, but I find that her writing style applied to storytelling simply does not work in this case. A friend described this to me as an "oblique character study", which feels right to me. So many sentences and symbols took my breath away, but I also felt deeply bored and frustrated, and I wanted her commentary about sexual abuse and class to cut sharper than it did. Then the end contains a series of shocks that don't quite feel earned... I'll read Manguso's next collection of poetry, but remain wary of her fiction. Really disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Classism, Incest, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Vomit, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, and Child abuse

rishel's review

dark sad fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Incest

blainereads's review

dark reflective slow-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

3.5

3.5 Stars—I think had I not just read Winter in Sokcho, this one might have earned an extra star, but it seems the two stories seek to do something similar and I've come to discover that I just prefer the visceral, vivid, lush descriptions of place over pain. 

With that said, coming from a Very Cold New England town myself, I can attest to the accuracy with which the author painted every horrid detail; perhaps had I not come from such a place or witnessed such depravity, this book would have been even more impressive or shocking in its scope, but it lacked a certain narrative dynamism so what's supposed to be "the reveal" at the end was nothing more than a foregone conclusion. (I also think the chapters about the Lowells and Cabots actually did a disservice to the rest of the story—it took away from the fragility and subtly, in a way. It felt a bit heavy-handed and out of place and didn't add much by way of context to the story; the social class discussions would still have been understood loud and clear without these passages.)

Content Warnings: Child Abuse, Sexual Assault, Molestation, Disordered Eating, Mental Illness, Self-Harm, Voluntary Institutionalization, Incest, Suicidal Ideation

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Incest, and Self harm

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Eating disorder