Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang

9 reviews

mighty_lizard_queen's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-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

3.0

A cross of As I Lay Dying and Grapes of Wrath

The book is very good for the first part, but once the father is buried I think it lost its way a little bit. I suppose the father was supposed to be redeemed but I didn't buy it. The ending was also unsatisfying and felt disconnected to the earlier parts of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Deadnaming, Grief, Trafficking, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Bullying, Blood, Outing, Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Sexism, Racism, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death of parent, Classism, Physical abuse, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Gun violence

samwein's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Miscarriage, and Racism

Moderate: Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Violence, Racial slurs, Bullying, Abandonment, Misogyny, Dysphoria, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Sexism, Death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Grief, and Racism

Minor: Sexual content and Transphobia

kananineko's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Racism, and Transphobia

Moderate: Misogyny, Dysphoria, Grief, Trafficking, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Animal death, Deadnaming, and Outing

cass_lit's review against another edition

3.25

I know Sam is a child who wasn’t allowed to have a childhood, but I kind of hate them. I know people are complex and not all bad or good, but I wanted to skip Part III because I didn’t want Ba‘s side of the story. I know it’s probably accurate representation of what Asian immigrants/Asian Americans, especially women and girls, faced in that time but I don’t *enjoy* reading about blatant racism and violence (physical and sexual; references and mentions, not on-page). I sped through abuse (animal abuse included).

All in all, I think this is an important read. As with most historical fiction, you get to know people’s stories and histories. As much as I didn’t like Sam or questioned some of Lucy’s decisions, I loved the sibling relationship.  As much as their parents were messed up, I liked the discussions of familial issues and trauma. This wasn’t a time period I’ve read about before, and I certainly wasn’t taught it from an Asian American perspective. It just wasn’t an easy read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Drug abuse

Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Rape

lorenag5's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Child abuse, and Grief

mo13's review

emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racism, Xenophobia, and Death

Moderate: Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Racial slurs

kaneebli's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad 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

2.5

very depressing and upsetting historical fiction western that almost ends with a bittersweet, hopeful ending

but at the last second, Lucy decides to sell herself into sexual slavery in order to pay off some wealth-hoarding bastards that Sam stole gold from. and then when she finally gets out of the forced prostitution (after an indeterminate amount of time) Lucy decides to not follow Sam across the ocean after all. and I guess she just stays in the California desert with no friends or family.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Colonisation, Grief, Sexism, Death, Animal cruelty, Violence, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual violence, Child death, Animal death, Trafficking, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

Minor: Emotional abuse, Rape, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Sexual assault, and Genocide

freddie_mewcury's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Grief, Racism, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Rape