Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

دوشیزگان by Alex Michaelides

380 reviews

mckinleyelle's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Stalking, Death of parent

Minor: Suicide attempt

kellyisntcool's review against another edition

3.5

dark mysterious tense 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: Violence, Murder

Moderate: Death

Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault

boop123's review against another edition

3.25

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Read this via audiobook, and I gotta say this is one of those books that makes you create many theories about what actually happened. Personally, I enjoyed figuring the ending out as I read along, but honestly, almost all of the characters here are annoying and/or stupid, especially Marianna (sorry to say). 

The ending was also unexpected but at the same time, did not give clues throughout the book at all??? So, although the third act of the book was intense and gripping, I was not expecting the ending to go that way at all, which was lowkey dissatisfying. Also, I rarely read books by male authors, but why are adult-minor/age gap relationships such a prevalent theme here???? Kind of a side eye, and like all of the male characters, they are major creeps and extremely annoying lmaooo 

Anyway, this was alright. I still read the whole thing, keeping me engaged until the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Violence, Murder

Minor: Drug use

samanthaleeshea's review against another edition

3.25

dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder

carolines's review against another edition

2.5

mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

timios's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Don’t be fooled by the title, this books is about men told through traumatizing women. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment

duckizza's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death

Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment

filipa_maia's review against another edition

2.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I'm not a huge fan of 'The Silent Patient' and I found this book even less enjoyable. I definitely don't like Alex Michaelides' writing, I always feel like his books could be movie scripts. That is something that don't work for me.

Overall I liked the plot. The story is well built and the characters are interesting with complex and very dark backgrounds but the ending... my God... Why? I didn't like it one bit. It definitely subverted expectations but was completely unnecessary.

I enjoyed the "crossover" with 'The Silent Patient' though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent

Minor: Incest, Infidelity, Car accident, Suicide attempt

soswiin's review against another edition

2.75

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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the more i think about this book the lower i rate it 

the good

- loved the setting and the way it was written almost worshipfully. i too idolize cambridge and all its uneven cobblestones and river-soaked undergrads 

- + 1 star because the best breakfast spot in the city was mentioned: the copper kettle 

the bad

- the way mythology was used. OKAY yes i picked this up because it was so “heavily versed in greek mythos”. it just felt very elementary. i wasn’t opposed to the vengeful almost teenage-bully nature of persephone but i didn’t love it. fosca’s lecture on the cult of eleusis was a great mythology-centric plot point but it was only truly relevant that one time. 

- for a book called “the maidens” the actual maidens really aren’t that prevalent. there’s not much of a cultish/abuse of academic authority vibe going on despite the fact that it’s a selling point of the book (it was for me) 

-the red herrings; spent the entire book trying to guess who the bad guy was because the wrong choices were so obvious. i did get fooled but it wasn’t satisfying or well done in the slightest. 

- maybe i’m just looking for things to complain about but a lot of the phrasing was just very cliche 

the ugly 

- the ending. rushed, confusing, and unnecessary. also really gross

- the characters. i’ve walked on floor tiles with more personality. there is not a single  person in the entire story that i was rooting for or who’s downfall i was praying for 

- where do i even begin with the pedophilic/incestuous subplot. what?? thrown out there without an ounce of comprehensible elaboration. made no sense to the story despite it basically causing the entire thing. just a nasty shock grabber

there were so many aspects of the book that would’ve been so interesting if they hadn’t been brushed over; henry’s role in the story, morris’s blackmail, the actual maidens themselves, the abuses of power. the author spends the entire book reiterating how terrible men are but never shows any woman successfully winning against the circumstances imposed on them. an amazing concept with poor execution

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Self harm

Moderate: Body horror, Rape

sugarbucky's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

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Michaelides has done it again!! You will NEVER guess the twist in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Violence