Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver

11 reviews

aliengirlreads's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Grief, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, and Hate crime

Moderate: Pregnancy, Racial slurs, and Racism

ameliac3's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Medical content, Violence, Death, and Murder

ellilo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Body horror, Child death, Child abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

ajlct's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

2.0

It's an excellent technical display of unlikeable characters and an unreliable narrator, but ultimately there was nothing redeeming about this book that made me glad to have read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gun violence, Child abuse, Cursing, Medical trauma, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Child death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Violence

kstericker's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Child abuse, Sexual content, Confinement, and Cursing

Moderate: Fatphobia, Racism, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Medical content, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Body shaming, Self harm, Sexism, Pedophilia, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, and Body horror

julianahughes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

jessbrownette's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Violence

lexi012996's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

It's hard to say that I actually enjoyed this book because it actually filled me with dread and despair, but I did think about it a lot while I was reading it and I'm still thinking about it days later so it was definitely effective in what it was trying to do. Personally I think I prefer books where I like at least one of the characters and this book was not that--I had sympathy for Eva but I didn't like her. I don't necessarily think she deserved what happened to her either (would anyone?). I spent a lot of my time with this book thinking "oh my god, what if this happens to me?" Or "what would I do?"--I think I hoped to separate myself from Eva by answering that I would be different, but I'm afraid that in the end I did see some of myself in her. 

 I also liked the format of the book and how it was fully written as letters. One note I have was that the descriptions of various school shootings throughout the book, real or invented, did get tedious after a while and I ended up skimming thru those sections by the end.

also I was totally shocked (perhaps I shouldn't have been) by the twist at the end and that made a lot of the rest of the book feel worth it to me. I was also really fascinated by the tone the book ended with and I'm still thinking about how I feel about that.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

pockymonster_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Sexual harassment, Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Hate crime, Gun violence, Gore, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Body shaming, and Animal cruelty

dale1997's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, and Violence