Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Vanishing Acts

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult

5 reviews

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Just once I wish one of the author’s legal stories were a little less predictable in verdict. That said, there are a lot of moral questions that we can grapple with to keep our interest, including suicide versus agency, real memories versus suggested memories, did he or didn’t he, what makes a good parent, when does cultural appropriation bleed into cultural exploration, where does intent batter in law, and so much more. And that’s my problem with this book - there is just too much going on, including feminism, indigenous history and the modern state they are forced to live in now, child abuse, alcoholism, pedophilia, cancer, miscarriage, betrayal, advisor parenting , infidelity, kidnapping, identity, drug manufacturing, distribution and abuse, prison culture, gang culture, White supremacy, etc. Pick a trigger, and it’s in here. It was too much thrown into one book. She needed a better editor to tell her so too. What put me over the edge was the near ridiculous transformation of one of the characters into a jailhouse Walter White. That really was too much, because it was so unrealistic and a huge deviation from the character’s development.

Content Warnings

kamrynkoble's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

2.5

This was definitely something. Five narrators, five different fonts, and the most random subplots I have EVER read. 2.5 stars.

I was glad I went into this completely blind, because I actually gasped at the first “twist” on page 30 or so. I really did enjoy the actual case of this book. It’s literally everything else that’s an issue.

I still don’t understand the absurd amount of pages devoted to the Native Americans or Andrew’s prison escapades. It is VERY obvious that this was published in the early 2000s and so much of these (COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT) racial topics were terrible. I finally started skimming in both of these sections and never had any trouble actually understanding the real plot.

And Fitz? Gah. Everything about his chapters and what he did was a big fat no from me.

Greta, the search-and-rescue bloodhound, is my one true love from this book.

The actual core story was great. The final execution is really disappointing. I would’ve died if I listened to this on audio and couldn’t skim/skip multiple pages.

Content Warnings

sarad12's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

Content Warnings

erma_z's review

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dark emotional 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

1.0

Content Warnings

ravensandlace's review against another edition

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slow-paced

5.0

Title: Vanishing Acts

Author: Jodi Picoult

Genre: Contemporary Adult Fiction

Format: paperback

Series: N/A

Star Rating: 5 stars

tw: in this book, there is talk of child molestation. It is not very descriptive but it is talked about. This is the only trigger warning I have for this book.

Well, what can I say about this book? At first, I was going to give it 4 stars because it was good but it wasn't blowing me out of the water. Then a major plot twist happened and I suddenly couldn't put the book down. I just had to find out what happened. So I read about 150 pages in a couple of hours.

POVs are Jodi Picoult's bread and butter. She gives each main character a chapter so that character can discuss their feelings about the events happening, the feelings of another person, etc. I love that and that is why I keep going back to her books again and again. In this particular book, Delia, Eric, Andrew, Fitz, and Elise (later in the book) each have chapters. Each person gets a specific font as well so it is easier to keep them straight.

I found that I liked Delia's and Fitz's chapters the most. They spoke with such feeling and heart. I may or may not have shipped them. I read fast through the others so that way I could get to these two. Especially after the plot twist. I didn't care for Eric at first when I learned about him through Delia but when I got a chance to read his POV, my mind changed. I thought he was a jerk but in all reality, he is a man who is just losing control of everything around him. Andrew's impressed me the least. He was so vague, it was irritating.

As for the story, you know the major plot twist (the first one) in the first 50 pages. That is what put me off from the book and from giving it a full 5 stars at first. I thought that the book was going to go very slowly as everybody finds out the secret lawyers prepare for the trial and everybody discusses their feelings and whatnot. But it wasn't quite as slow as I thought it was going to be. Yes, in some parts it felt like filler. Like what was going on with Andrew in jail. Some parts I just didn't care enough about.

Overall, This was just a really solid enjoyable book. Jodi Picoult has a way of writing about such taboo topics and making them so they aren't so taboo. I highly suggest this book and all her other ones as well. All are so good in their way. I have yet to find one that I have rated less than 3 stars.

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