Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

With Teeth by Kristen Arnett

30 reviews

jamiereadsbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective 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? Yes

4.25

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

anxiousnachos's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

4.5 stars.

Did I turn almost 30 and then start unintentionally reading several books that examine the horrific monstrosity of motherhood, my deep fear of having a child when you are clearly not suited to having one, and cementing my desire to not have children.

This is incredible storytelling, despite the lack of plot. It is a character study of a mother through her eyes as she raises a son she hates (and loves) in unequal measure. Interspersed with short extracts from characters who witness the events unfold around this family, we see the story of a queer family revealed in new light. It is a visceral and humid study of the unreliable narrator, expertly told. Very dark and very horrific and had me on the edge of my seat in horror throughout. It has cemented Kristen Arnott as one of my favourite contemporary writers.

Content warnings: emotional and financial abuse, toxic relationship, child abuse, cheating, animal cruelty, sexual assault, attempted kidnapping
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

paigeno's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark sad tense
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

enbybooklove's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark medium-paced
  • 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

3.25

Weird, depressing book about a self-involved parent kinda screwing up her son
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ukponge's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced
  • 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

4.25

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

anxiousbookclub's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny reflective tense fast-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

4.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mlovesbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

I have been trying to finish this book for months but it just isn't for me. I'm not in the right mindset to read this kind of thing right now.

I couldn't help but feel so angry and frustrated. I assume that's the intention; you shouldn't like our main character, but it was too much.

Maybe I'll eventually finish it but today is not that day.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

alexiswiththefreckles's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.25

I’m pretty sure I felt unsettled the entire time I read this book, which maybe was the goal? The unreliable narration intermixed with other character’s perspectives really had me thinking - what on earth is happening? - the entire time. I haven’t read a lot of books where I do not like the main narrator at all  but still enjoyed the book, so I take that as a testament to Arnett’s excellent writing and storytelling. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

angel_hardy's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

Sammie Lucas is a lesbian mother who, on the surface, has the perfect queer family unit. A beautiful home, a wife she loves, Monika, and their son, Samson. Everything is perfect, except...Monika isn't around a whole lot, and if she's honest, she's afraid of her own son...

This book had me by the throat from the first sentence and then it wouldn't let me go for the next five days. It didn't matter what I was doing, I wanted to pick this up and shut out the world. Don't get me wrong, it's not a riveting tale or anything. It's not plot driven at all, it's mainly a character study of Sammie and how she's clearly very troubled and was never meant to be a mother. I hated her with every fiber of my being. I hated her on every page, every sentence. She was at best, whiny, and at worst, violent. It was crazy how unreliable of a narrator she was. She also struck me as someone who would go to a Planned Parenthood protest on the weekend, but I'm not going to tell you why.

I was so fascinated by this terrible character and her terrible interactions with her son and wife, fascinated by her dealing with religious trauma, her hypocrisy, her complete inability to connect with her son and then complaining about how he was suuuuch a problem. It was insane. The behavior of everyone in this book is absolutely unhinged, but Sammie takes the cake.

It's safe to say this book had my attention, but that being said, the writing wasn't really remarkable and the references to teeth (other people's teeth, what Sammie's teeth were doing, biting, etc) seemed a bit shoe-horned in and obvious at times. I also thought I was going to combust at times at how ableist the treatment of Samson as a character was. You can chalk that up to his parents being bad people - and they are, but it was just too much for me and it made me *too* angry.

Anyway I know that I'm probably going to read a lot of GR reviews calling this bad lesbian rep, but sometimes even queer people are bad and unhinged, and I think it's important to write about that. Argue with the wall. Overall, a really intriguing read.

I forgot to mention that there are little vignettes at the end of every chapter that show contrast between how Sammie sees certain situations happening in a chapter vs. what an outsider experiences and I think they were genuinely my favorite part of the book and I can't believe I didn't mention this somewhere above. Oops! Here it is.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings