Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Sadie by Courtney Summers

35 reviews

reedandright's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Grief, Toxic friendship, Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism and Cursing

kecasey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Alcohol, Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Addiction, and Pedophilia

melimar's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

I started this book not knowing if I would like the format, which switches from Sadie’s POV to West’s POV to snippets of a podcast about Sadie and her sister’s lives. I don’t know how it would have differed to read the book in print, but the audio format helped the different POVs come together well. I really enjoyed this book, though there were some things that kept me from giving it a higher score. It is a bit difficult to get through parts of this book, due to the topics. The ending was a tiny bit disappointing, but I understand why the author made the choice to end it that way. I’m glad I chose to listen to the audiobook version of the book. The narration in this book was absolutely amazing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Ableism, Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Grief, Pedophilia, and Violence

nyantastic's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Child abuse, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Violence, Pedophilia, Death, and Murder

Minor: Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Bullying, and Drug abuse

pagesihavenotyetread's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Murder, Sexual assault, Cursing, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Rape

violabaldwin's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Drug abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Addiction, Rape, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Child death, and Cursing

cdelgado88284's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Cursing, Grief, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Addiction, Murder, and Rape

agentlywildrebellion's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Blood, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Violence, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Misogyny, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual violence

grays_opinion's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I would recommend Sadie to anyone interested in a gritty, dark revenge novel and can handle the subject matter (more on that later.) I loved how the story was told, with the narration switching back and forth between Sadie and West, a podcaster covering Sadie's disappearance months after she went missing. It definitely helped build suspense and give the reader more information as to what exactly was going on. West in particular has an interesting arc, going from resistant and unwilling to cover Sadie's disappearance to becoming invested not only in her story, but also in the lives of others involved in her life. Sadie herself doesn't actually undergo any character development, but it's definitely not a bad thing; it helps show her determination in her mission and how deeply she is grieving her sister. I didn't necessarily find myself loving West or Sadie either. I definitely didn't hate them (although I didn't like West's initial dismissal of Sadie's story) but I never really found myself loving them. They're both characters on a mission; I found myself more invested in their stories than the characters themselves. As for why I said "it's complicated" when referring to the diversity of the cast, the characters are largely not racially diverse, if that's something you're looking for. Both Sadie and West are LGBTQ+, but that's not a big part of the book (or even a small part of it.) What I'm trying to say is that if you are looking for a book that includes a lot of diversity and has a lot of focus on it, Sadie is not that book.

The reason I gave Sadie 4 stars and not 5 is because of the subject matter of child sexual abuse and pedophilia. It was difficult to process and generally something that I don't like to read about. However, I thought that the topics were handled well and in a sensitive manner. If you choose to read this book, definitely heed any and all content warnings you find.

Overall, Sadie is a really gripping book. I was invested in Sadie and her mission. She and West make for somewhat compelling characters, although the story focuses more on the plot than the characters. It's a very interesting story, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes true crime. This book does kind of have a true crime feel to it, except it's fictional haha. This is a very interesting, but very dark book; a good read overall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, and Blood

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Rape

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Murder

Sexual abuse of children is an important detail in this book, and it is heavily implied/confirmed throughout the story. Please please please sit this book out if you are triggered by that. If you choose to read the book anyways, please note that the content can be disturbing.

bookishbabe93's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Addiction, Child abuse, and Vomit