Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

34 reviews

himpersonal's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative 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

4.75

This was a powerful story. From all I’ve read, learned, and heard between books and my Indigenous friends, the themes in the story ring true, sadly and tragically, especially those of addiction and missing and murdered Indigenous women. Not sure how much FBI actually care, but I would like to think that regardless of if they do, there are people like Daunis whose courage is enough to bring healing to these tribes, which are and will continue to suffer from the generational trauma of forced colonization. My heart is heavy for every single one who has died as a result and live in destitution and despair today due to the generations of pain that cause people to turn to drugs and alcohol.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

thecriticalreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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? No

4.75

The Run-Down: Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley is a masterclass in storytelling, worldbuilding, and character development—with important thematic exploration and messages to boot.

 

Review: 

I actually read Boulley’s second book, Warrior Girl Unearthed, before Firekeeper’s Daughter. Consequently, I went into Firekeeper’s Daughter with high expectations, but I wasn’t prepared for those expectations to be so thoroughly surpassed. The book may start off deceptively tame, but very quickly it proves itself to be one-of-a-kind in terms of its plot, subject matter, and depth. Boulley completely and totally immerses her reader’s into the world and dynamics of her characters, and she’s not afraid to tackle some seriously difficult topics with an admirable level of realism and grit. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to anyone who is an older teenager or older.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Gun violence, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Police brutality, and Death of parent

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

I love when I read a book that is unlike any book I’ve ever read before. This book opened up new worlds because I’ve not really read any contemporary books with Native people as the main characters. Learning about Native culture and customs through this novel was a breathtaking experience. The plot is believable, the characters choose paths that are unexpected, and the ending is sad but gives you a sense of finality as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

thatsssorachael's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Gun violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

nat_montego's review

adventurous challenging emotional

• 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: Addiction

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, and Gun violence

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

alexiconic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging inspiring reflective 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

5.0

a perfect mixture of real life events and impact with a fictionalized time, place, and community. the echoes of events in our world are omnipresent, but the story never felt like it “had” to match anything, or like it suffered from a need to attach to the present. 

this book had everything. good twists, a wonderful hero with her own demons and dilemmas, intricate and difficult family relations, friendship and community, and an articulation of that time of life where we try to find our purpose on earth. oh, and a thrilling crime-y plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Classism, and Deportation

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.5

Sometimes when I read a book I have a super unpopular opinion on, I have to wonder if either I or everyone else got a bugged copy of some kind (or if I'm just that much of a hater). Because no matter how hard I try, I just really, genuinely cannot understand the average/majority rating of this book?

The writing ranges from dry to pointedly (in other words, unnaturally) quotable, and the dialogue is somehow even more stilted and unrealistically grammatically flawless than the narration. A few spoken lines toward the end literally go on uninterrupted and with no stuttering or backtracking for 100+ words; virtually no one, let alone who's suffered recent repeated physical trauma, is that eloquent. Information is revealed in stilted blocks and repeated ten times over. I don't think any teenager -- or person at all -- in the history of cell phones has ever texted like the teenagers in this book are written as doing.

In terms of substance, there's a lot left to be desired as well. All of the individual narrative threads -- or at least most of them -- would make interesting stories, but here they're all kind of crammed into one unbalanced mess. Is the central plot supposed to be Daunis's complex relationship with her family members and community? Her desire to pursue a career in medicine/science and unite traditional and more modern "scientific" practices? Her recovering from and learning about the factors leading up to her best friend's sudden, tragic death? Her role as an undercover informant in an FBI investigation involving meth and her community (as much suspension of disbelief as that requires)? Her and Jamie's relationship? A general critical overview of the treatment of Indigenous women in American and Canadian society? It's never really decided, and so we jump awkwardly from one to the other without more natural transitions or better multitasking, leading to really overall odd pacing.

The general emotional pacing never quite hits either. A significant medical detail about the protagonist is made explicit for the first time 70% in and never serves any real relevance (and is outright contradicted or ignored at other times). Major traumatic events like the murder of Daunis's best friend and

her being raped by a friend's father

are brushed off like minor hindrances -- there's no "right" way to react to trauma, but it feels so strange for the plot to just trudge on with no in-depth reflection, as though these things (particularly the latter) have been carelessly thrown in just to add to Daunis's hardships.

The characters -- including, perhaps especially Daunis -- lack depth, whittled down to one trait (not even one that is shown, but told... multiple times). The supporting cast especially kind of blends together as a result of that weird pacing and unrealistic, stilted dialogue. I couldn't get a real sense of any of their motivations, so the culprit reveal and relationships all feel more than lackluster. In that regard, the romance is particularly egregious, even putting aside the core issues with

a relationship between a 22-year-old government agent (as much questionable as that is in and of itself) and an 18-year-old college student he's directly supervising in an investigation

.

Overall, quite disappointing execution of multiple interesting premises, and I remain bewildered by the overwhelmingly positive response. Perhaps it was a great book for many others, but nothing about it ended up clicking or sitting well with me.

(Also, urine, even your own, is not actually sterile! Please do not use it as a substitute for hydrogen peroxide. I know this is set in 2004 -- as little as there is to solidly ground it there -- and a lot of people believe that myth even today, but it just feels... irresponsible to include in a book like this, especially framed as an objective valuable fact.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol

jessthanthree's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Fatphobia, Trafficking, and Pregnancy

galexy_brain's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? No

4.0

What a page-turner! I needed to know more. I appreciated the story's invitation into the lives of indigenous folks on a reservation and learning more about Anishnaabe language and culture. I found

her brother being involved in the drug ring predictable because Daunis idolized him the whole time, even when he was evidently shitty in some ways. I also found Daunis's experience of grief to fall flat partially, but I'm no expert on how people process grief. It's just that as a reader I didn't really feel her grief very strongly, or find it particularly sad when Lily died, since we barely got to know her beforehand. I also really wanted to find out what was going on with the Little People but they never reappeared.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Rape, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Grief, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

peachmoni's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Racism, Suicide, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Vomit, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria