Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

19 reviews

sourday's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

i didn't know this book was THIS sad. If i find the story melancholic, i won't read the sequels, but damn, i'm hooked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

homebodynate's review against another edition

dark emotional sad

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

1.0

I read this as an adult to see what the hype (i guess???) was about 😑

I feel like this book brings up a lot of heavy topics and interesting ideas - religious trauma, toxic parents, abuse, misogyny etc - only to fumble them so badly. Like Cathy has her entire life uprooted, experiences her mother slowly turning negligent and abusive, finds out about this generational trauma that effects every woman in her family, loses her younger brother and all this other stuff; but the book is so caught up in old school misogyny that it can't really conceptualise an ending for her that isn't still wrapped up in patriarchy and these conservative ideas of how men and women in relationships ought to behave. Like she enters into and then escapes this horrible abusive family but her "happy ending" is just her ending up with another horrible abusive man anyways 😐 and the abuse is like immediately forgiven and excused by the narrative I can't with this.
Also all the incest shit was fuckin weird.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death, Self harm, and Death of parent

Minor: Car accident

greysun69's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

3.0

TW: Child Abuse, Incest, Gaslighting, Child Neglect, Manipulation, Child Confinement , Racist terminology, Ableism, Religious Abuse, Rape, Sexual Coercion, Victim Blaming, Misogyny,Suicidal Ideations, Death of a parent, Self-harm

3.5⭐️ This book is a classic and for that reason there are certain things that didn’t age well such as the term “tar baby”, “retarded”, and the word “ugly” being used to describe a person with a incest-caused birth defect. Although the preteens didn’t speak like preteens, I suspended my disbelief just to read this book. Honestly, this shit was sad as fuck. I was sad for the manipulation of the brother that was supposed to be the smart one. The twins and Cathy all saw that the mom was a liar and couldn’t be trusted but Chris always wanted to believe in her. If by some miracle you weren’t marred by this book or movie, look up the trigger warnings because I may have missed some. The mother pissed me off more than The Grandmother did. The book described that a loving mother was changed by greed but she was simply a narcissist playing the role of a loving mother. The grandmother was simply a bxtch. Those little fxckers didn’t have to kill that mouse! I didn’t like the end but that’s because of cliffhangers.
The book was well-written and I’m willing to read the next book. The movie and the book were similar, but there were key moments in the book that were changed in the movie.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

mad_dog_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Pregnancy

madelinequinnee's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Utterly heartbreaking and truly disturbing. 

I decided to read this book because i’m a big fan of Nicole Dollanganger and i know she takes a lot of inspiration from this series. I knew what to expect when going into this, but it didn’t make it any less horrific. I didn’t, however, anticipate this to be so sad. I ended up feeling really connected to the characters by the end, and Cory’s death made me cry. 

I think this book can go in the same category as Lolita, they’re both beautifully written but contain dark content 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

gillzzzo's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Child death and Incest

Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual content

isibeal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Self harm, Blood, Vomit, and Car accident

raybudbury's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Insane. Absolutely insane.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Incest, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

maggiemaryamos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This was a really interesting book to read and imagine young gals reading this years ago. Because god, is it intense. I was prepared for the incest, but not for the

assault </>, and I think it's really interesting to consider the author kind of excusing it and the time and ideas in which she was raised. I'm probably going to keep reading this book series, but def f Christopher. He can fall off a cliff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Incest, Rape, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol