Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

250 reviews

lockg6704's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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As always incredible writing and incredibly impactful and challenging 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment

kvjrist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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“All of our waste which we dumped on her and which she absorbed. And all of us——all who knew her——felt so wholesome after we cleaned ourselves on her. We were so beautiful when we stood astride her ugliness. Her simplicity decorated us, her guilt sanctified is, her pain made us glow with health, her awkwardness made us think we had a sense of humor. Her inarticulateness made us believe we were eloquent. Her poverty kept us generous. Even her waking dreams we used——to silence our own nightmares. And she let us, thereby deserved our contempt. We honed our egos on her, padded our characters with her frailty, and yawned in the fantasy of our strength.” pg. 205


Emotional damage.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment

lisesenb's review against another edition

4.75

challenging reflective sad

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Challenging but important

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Abandonment

Minor: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Classism

seullywillikers's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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 Such beautiful language to express such horrific things. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism

unique_polarizer's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Pregnancy

a1exander's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Excrement, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Classism

angelo_garcia's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape

Moderate: Physical abuse

lindseyas's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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If there's someone out there that has a solid grasp on human nature, its got to be Toni Morrison. What a craftswoman when it comes to writing her characters to be so deep, with so many flaws and personal pitfalls that they seem to overflow. She just has this type of hold over what it means to be human that you tend to forget you aren't reading nonfiction. This novel, her first (which is so insane to me), recalls the story of a small town where all but hell breaks loose, from family dilapidation to the spread of casual — and violent — racism. The stars of the novel, however, are the young Black girls that are growing up in this environment, overwhelmed with society's standards and plans for them. The concept of beauty and innocence is a White one in this novel, where the blue eyes are a desirable attribute, because it means safety from all harm, an escape from the torment of being misunderstood and unseen. A simple symbol for race and gender, this book tells a nauseating story of when innocence is taken advantage of and girls are ignored for what they are. My only gripe was the constantly switching perspectives with no clear distinctions in speaker, sort of made it hard to read. Other than that, another massive success.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Abandonment

bearsiies's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

penofpossibilities's review against another edition

4.75

dark sad

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Classism

Moderate: Slavery, Religious bigotry

Minor: Gun violence, Miscarriage