Reviews tagging Physical abuse

Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen

10 reviews

malia7's review

adventurous dark sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Animal cruelty

planetshelf's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don’t know whether it’s just because of who I am, but I don’t think this is very romantic. It is very centered around thoughts of sex and descriptions of bodies (boobs’ descriptions were weird and often related to acidic fruits and penises sounded repulsive) but doesn’t feel at all like other books I’ve read that are categorized as romances.

The way Jacob — 90 (or 93) — is written is wonderful. I don’t know exactly what elders think, but I grew up with grandparents as my guardians and I feel an oddly sentimental connection with the more utilitarian thoughts that were written.

I feel this may be worth mentioning: the author uses the official vocabulary when referring to a body. If that might be uncomfortable for you, you probably should let this one go.

Nonetheless, I liked it and thought it was a fun journey to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Antisemitism, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Animal death

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Car accident, Confinement, Fatphobia, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Vomit

_terah_hansen_'s review

adventurous emotional medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Rape

jenna_justi2004's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Cursing, Bullying, Cancer, Classism, Death, Murder, Blood, Chronic illness, Drug use, Rape, Sexism, Stalking, Violence, Body horror, Mental illness, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Toxic relationship

cammiem8's review against another edition

adventurous sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I can’t quite put my finger on why I didn’t enjoy this book more. I love books about old timey cheating, but the love story just didn’t quite grip me. The plot had enough turns to keep me engaged and I did listen through it very quickly. I also didn’t care much for the parts of the book set much later with the old man, I didn’t think the framing device added much of value. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Sexual content, Racial slurs, Classism, Death of parent, Murder, Antisemitism, Cursing, Car accident, and Gore

Minor: Sexual harassment, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Animal abuse is constant in the book, but it is very clearly condemned by the protagonist

sarahdr_'s review

adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

5.0

The storytelling is incredible! One of the best books I've read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Sexual content

Moderate: Physical abuse and Death

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Alcohol

autlinbustler's review

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

elthechameleon's review

lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.75

Spoiler

This author didn't treat any of its characters well. Jacob and Marlena are positioned as the two most important, while Walter and Camel don't get any fully-fleshed out stories.  Their deaths were shocking, quick, and poorly done. It was truly frustrating, especially with the overwhelming attitude of privilege of Jacob Jankowski.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Murder, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Car accident and Dementia

happyladyjadereads's review against another edition

dark sad slow-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

3.25

It is obvious why this appeals to book clubs with the romance of the central love story plot and the glamour of the circus, but this shone for me in the way it flips between Jacob as an old man in a nursing home and as a young man run away from college with the circus. It is worth sticking with for the last few chapters, even if it slows in the middle.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Violence

demishinigami's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Domestic abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Animal cruelty