Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power

9 reviews

dogoodwithbooks's review

challenging 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

4.0

 A Council of Dolls is an eye-opening read of three generations of Native American women and their connection to their dolls. With a POV split between the three women, each POV tells a haunting story of the abuse Native Americans have been subjected to for years and how they turn to their dolls for comfort and guidance. Adding touches of magical realism, Power’s historical fiction novel captures the generational trauma passed down from each woman and how to ultimately heal from it. If you’re a fan of the multi-generational sagas found in books like Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow, you might like this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, Colonisation, Murder, and Child abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, and Police brutality

Minor: War, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide

sangsmiles's review

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Racism, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Violence, Genocide, Child death, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Animal death and Suicide

michellec13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, and Child death

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Alcoholism and Suicide

candaceross321's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Death of parent, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Racism, Mental illness, Death, Alcoholism, Colonisation, and Religious bigotry

thiswasatriumph's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense

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

5.0

I am thinking of this book in terms of windows and mirrors, and in conversation with my wife who read it before me. I am on the other side of this equation: my family own land belonging to the Miami and benefited from the policies of removal and genocide. I live on unceded Dakota land. And yet those miseries inflicted upon people like Jesse's family failed to make mine happy. The destruction of their culture has impoverished mine. We lack stories, our memories extending no further than a single human lifetime. I have worked, like Jesse, to recover lost memories, though my methods are less profound and affecting. The results of my work mean much to me, but they are like the twined-tied boxes. Very little of my work speaks to me, and none of it speaks past me. I worry that it will be my life gathering only for another dispersal because my people do not care about their history. No one is trying to destroy it, though it is precious. We discard it as rubbish. What have we gained for all this suffering inflicted? How can we move forward? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Child death, and Genocide

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Rape, Child abuse, and Slavery

Minor: Alcoholism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racial slurs

spacescape's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Slavery, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Cultural appropriation, Confinement, Racism, Death of parent, Death, and Colonisation

Minor: Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, and Suicide

emmareeser's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexual content and Racism

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Colonisation, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Racism, Genocide, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Violence

readingwithkaitlyn's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Racism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Violence, Death, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Infidelity, Terminal illness, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Confinement, Sexual violence, Genocide, Racial slurs, Murder, Colonisation, Blood, Sexual harassment, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Grief, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual content, Miscarriage, War, Excrement, Slavery, Vomit, Ableism, Rape, Incest, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, and Suicide

Mention of serial killer, segregation, Korean War, boarding schools, Dakota 38, Whitestone Hill, hangings, Wounded Knee, Carlisle, and starvation.