Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Hungry Ghost by Victoria Ying

4 reviews

koreanlinda's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

This was such a fortunate find in the library. Victoria Ying tells her own story of an eating disorder through a teenage protagonist Val. She is a Vietnamese American with a mother who micromanages her daughter's eating. I have a mother who obsesses over other's judgment of appearance and eating, so I related to Val's struggle. It took me a long time to love my body, stop dieting, and focus on more important parts of my life. 

I hope this book and similar stories are read widely among young people. I think the pressure to look good on social media is ever so high. It takes a lot of self-care and community support to fight off that pressure.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in March 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Fatphobia

Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent

black_flamed_candle_b00ks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

befrazzledenby's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.0

As someone who's struggled with an eating disorder for most of their life, I was pretty disappointed by this graphic novel, which was a surprise. It was so fast-paced, and felt so shallow but also way too deep at times, like the pace of the novel couldn't contain the intense emotionality of everything happening in the plot/character. It just didn't feel realistic or very human to me. I've had patrons rave about it, though, and the illustrations (colored pencil, I think) were really lovely and fit the theme. The pacing was too off for me, though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Suicide

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

emotional sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Vomit, Grief, and Death of parent

Dead animal, stereotypes,

plane crash

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