Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Pod by Laline Paull

6 reviews

laurenbastian's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

A terrifying and tragic story that shows us exactly the harm we do to our neighbors on this planet. The story is about dolphins and the complex and sometimes horrifying power dynamics and social structures of the ocean. But it is also about how, amidst and underpinning it all, humans have pushed these aquatic communities to annihilation. This is a book of climate grief that does not shy away from gore and violence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

ank3's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

julesreadsstuff's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I found it a little slow and complicated to get into initially but then once the pace picked up it was exciting and devastating and I didn’t want to put it down! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

withlivjones's review

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

4.0

An excellently-crafted story of belonging and survival in the face of ecological crisis, from the perspective of marine life. Paull does a fantastic job of bringing the ocean to life and making every character seem so… human? It’s also super clear how badly the climate crisis has affected the oceans and their wildlife, and Paull doesn’t sugarcoat this at all - don’t go into this book thinking it’s going to be a whimsical story about dolphins because it’s sooo dark. Beautifully written with a lot of emotion - the only thing I didn’t like was that the romance (although I wouldn’t even call it that) at the end felt really rushed to the point that it didn’t make a lot of sense character-wise, it would have been better with a couple more chapters dedicated to developing the relationship between the characters. Other than that, though, I loved it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

creepycrawlybookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I can completely see that this book would not suit everyone, but I really loved it. There were some real surprises in here, amongst the darkness. I generally love fiction with animal protagonists anyway, so maybe I am slightly biased, but I really appreciated this book for it’s beauty, rawness, brutal honesty, heart wrenching twists, and also the rays of hope.
If you loved The Bees, and The Handmaids’s Tale, I’d highly recommend it, but I would definitely check trigger warnings if you need to do so, some sections are brutal to read, representing the animals’ survival and struggles in graphic scenes, so please go in forewarned. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

kwahl's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism