Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Animal by Lisa Taddeo

16 reviews

mackie5's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Violence, Suicide, Sexism, Mental illness, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Death, Ableism, Addiction, and Gore

laurenparham's review

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I was kind of hating this until I got about 80% of the way through at which point I really started to like it, so, sometime that’s how it goes!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

hukiki's review

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

3.0

Please read the trigger warnings

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death of parent and Toxic relationship

Minor: Ableism

tamsinlucycp's review

This book was an alright read but I couldn't look past the explicit and totally unnecessary ableism, nor the repeated use of the word 'queer' to mean strange or odd. Incredibly white with limited characters of colour. A disappointing read that doesn't fit into a 2021 climate. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Ableism

Minor: Ableism

sharonleavy's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

1.0

This book deeply upset me to the point where I felt sick and angry at the author for being able to manipulate my emotions and provoke a physical, gutteral reaction. 

In one way I suppose that's a sign of a talented writer - but is it? Or is it just a sign that people who know how to push buttons will conjure up the most intimate, upsetting incidents to provoke? 

This book is supposed to make you angry. The main character, Joan, is anger personified. She has been hurt, mistreated, and used by men throughout her entire life, over and over again. She no longer cares whether or not she takes advantage of them in return. 

"Smart older men will have a way of crawling up your leg. It won't feel seedy at first, and it might seem like it was your idea."

My notes for this book (among a lot of "WTAF??!!!s") include one that says "all these people are disgusting" which I think is accurate. There isn't one redeeming character. The men are all vile, the women all stereotypes. 

The incident that upset me the most involved child loss. I thought that the incident itself was grossly overwritten, it added nothing to the story nor the character's story, it just seemed like it was there to provoke. Almost as if saying "are you angry enough yet? Is your skin crawling? No? Here you go, then!". I've read much worse in horror novels, but that's not what this was. It just felt like manipulation and I hated it, I hated how it made me feel. Repeated references to sexual assault and abuse also need to be approached with caution, as does the treatment of a character with Alzheimer's. 

For me - even though the writing itself was engaging enough to keep me reading, I just didn't see the overall point of any of it. There was NOTHING redeeming about the main character, her story in itself wasn't particularly interesting, and the side characters were one-dimensional and forgettable. 

Many will disagree (many have) but imho there are better ways to rally against a patriarchal society. Ones that don't involve graphic child loss as deliberately provocative filler - I felt more emotionally manipulated by this book than I have been by a man in a very long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Miscarriage, Rape, and Suicide

emelymarie's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad 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: Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit