Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

35 reviews

kenrya's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

The writing is great, but this felt unfinished. Loose ends abound and the choice of narrator for what this story ended up being was poor, to say the least. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Racism, Rape, Death, Child abuse, Classism, Deadnaming, Sexual assault, Violence, Abortion, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Physical abuse

jesticulate's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

1.0

I am furious about this book. I loved the writing and found myself thinking deeply the whole way through. And then the whole book ends with a terrible 30 page bullshit transphobic ending. It’s incredibly insulting and disgusting. Wow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Transphobia, and Racism

Minor: Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Rape, Classism, Abortion, Alcohol, Dementia, Death of parent, Stalking, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

txikimandy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.75

This novel is incredible. The pacing is very interesting and the ending feels like the climax, which is a unique structure that I really enjoyed. It was a challenging read and I really enjoyed puzzling out meaning in various areas. The character arcs are interesting because of the large time jump between parts one and two, but I appreciated the care put into shaping each character across that jump.

I love magical realism and this novel was amazing at it. It was accepted that there was something weird about mirrors, as the synopsis on the back alludes to, but the characters accepted that weirdness as their normal. The concept of the mirrors in this novel is incredible and all I want is to know more about Oyeyemi’s vision for the novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Abortion, Animal cruelty, and Transphobia

idogrocker's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This was an enjoyable read up until the last 20 pages when some really terrible takes on trauma and transphobia pop up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Abortion

hardbackednooks's review against another edition

The flap/description of this book ruined the "big reveal" of the first half of the book and the character dynamics made me wildly uncomfortable, which I think was intentional. I just couldn't stand to read more of it. Also saw in some spoilered reviews that one of the characters is later revealed to be trans and their story and transness in general is handled very poorly. Glad I didn't finish it, honestly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Racism, Physical abuse, Animal death, and Transphobia

kcarney86's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-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

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Abandonment and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Lesbophobia, Rape, Mental illness, Alcohol, Torture, Slavery, Racial slurs, Miscarriage, Bullying, and Stalking

sundayfever's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective relaxing slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual assault

thebakerbookworm's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective medium-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? Yes

2.5

Though this is described as a Snow White retelling, it is very very loosely based on Snow White. I'm not really sure it even qualifies as a retelling beyond the fact that there is a character named Snow and she has a stepmother.

Anyways, it was still an interesting premise. We follow Boy for most of the book, as she escapes a bad situation and makes her own way in the world. It was hard to get a true handle on any of the characters because none of them are super reliable as narrators. The truth seems very much subjective in this story. I liked Boy though, and her relationship with Snow and I thought there were a lot of cool things being done, particularly this mirror theme that was happening. The story dabbled with being fantasy and kind of leaves it up to the reader to decide if it's fantasy or if certain things are only happening in a character's mind. Like I said, the truth was very much up for debate. There's also themes of race and passing that get explored.

The book takes a turn about halfway through and we get Bird's perspective, which I enjoyed. I did feel that the relationship between Boy and Snow was put on the back burner though, and is no longer really delved into or developed for the rest of the book. It almost felt like all these characters were being seen from a distance; just when I thought we were getting close to one, it would turn out to be a trick and they were still really far away. Or I just couldn't trust what I was seeing/being told by said character.

And then the last twentyish pages happened, and it was not good. This may be considered a spoiler but I think it's important to know going in—an abusive character is revealed to be trans and it's heavily implied that they are trans because of a traumatic event, and when another character finds this out, they are determined to rebuild their relationship with them and "fix" them. And then the book just ends, very abruptly. I read this book for my book club, and when we discussed it, we could not figure out why the author included this last-minute storyline or what purpose it served beyond being problematic. We were also unable to find any author interviews that discussed it, so I'm left just feeling frustrated with this ending.

An overall interesting premise and story with a terrible ending. If you do pick this up, I recommend stopping about 90% of the way through.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Transphobia

tina94's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Transphobia and Fatphobia

Minor: Homophobia and Sexual assault

sadie26w's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.5

This book ends very poorly

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Lesbophobia

Minor: Addiction