Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

14 reviews

nhewitt99's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Following the perspectives of a large family through many points in time, the style of this book is dizzying at first. Give it time, and the same qualities make it completely immersive. The prevailing story is a tragedy, yanked along by nonlinear storytelling that foreshadows every detail before it happens. It's gripping, and moving, and so difficult to put down. 

I was amazed by how many themes Roy could probe through the lens of one family, including love, modernity, history, classism, sexism, colonialism, trauma, and self determinism. Each topic is given respect and nuance via the myriad perspectives offered by the large cast of characters.

The rhetoric is beautiful and makes great use of extended metaphor and symbolism. It's also ripe with the phrase-as-adjective speech that I'm a sucker for, like deep-seaweed-feeling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Classism, Police brutality, and Colonisation

tahsintries's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Sexual content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Hate crime, Incest, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Confinement, Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, Rape, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Xenophobia, Classism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Infidelity

kibiiiariii's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Gore, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Ableism, Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Rape, Death, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Classism, Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Violence, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, and Pregnancy

steveatwaywords's review

dark emotional 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

4.75

A mesmerizing and distressing work, with a plot which nearly gives away its ending at the start but then reverses its way through a labyrinth of relationships and childhood impressions to reveal itself at last. Just a remarkable telling, with adversaries who are broken and real, silent personal histories which work themselves too powerfully, and the delusions we all share about ourselves and our potentials. 

While Roy's early work has its occasional missteps (an awkward metaphor or seeming senseless aside rarely), her weaving of the smallest innocence (for instance, a refrain from Popeye the Sailor) into a more tragic signaling slowly trains readers to understand the nuances of perception working upon the tragic events which unfold. I have seldom read anything quite so unique and powerful in its originality. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Incest, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Minor: Domestic abuse

jellyparfum's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, Death, Hate crime, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Violence, Classism, Colonisation, Gore, Incest, Abandonment, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, and Sexual violence

mxpringle's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Police brutality, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Racism, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Child death, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

rcsreads's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.5

This is such a Booker Prize book. So unnecessarily wordy and pretentious.
 No-one has ever made sex or food sound so disgusting. Also, none of the gross sex descriptions are actually necessary to the story.
 I mainly kept going because the narrator on the audio book had such a calming voice. 
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Excrement, Child death, Sexual assault, Racism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Violence, Rape, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

sunny_not's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

It was very dark, brutal and hard hitting. I think that you should be in the mind space to read this to be able to read this since the content warnings list is very long. Also the language was very poetic which was nice most of the time but sometimes it made this quite hard to read. Overall a really important piece of literature but I really wished there wouldn't be incest in this... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Incest, Abandonment, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, and Pedophilia

aslanjade's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality

Moderate: Child death, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

weeta's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Murder, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Incest, Colonisation, and Vomit