Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Pod by Laline Paull

8 reviews

bessadams's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Death, and Rape

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Excrement, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Bullying

balfies's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

 Ecological tragedy as told from the perspective of dolphins. It sounds trite but it's genuinely incredible. 

The delicate rituals and sociopolitics of different dolphin pods is marred by the horrors of ecological disaster, military action, and test bombings. 

First The Overstory and now this... Reading a lot of literary eco-fiction this year! This one's another from the Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist. If you like Blue Planet, try this one on for size.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Physical abuse

bookbinbaby's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

This is a story of our times, it will haunt and inspire in equal measure, it felt like 'Game of Thrones' meets 'Seaspiracy' for me. Brutal. Reflective. Memorable. The characters are each very interesting in how they are individually and where they interact with each other. Holds a mirror up to how we take and overpower the natural world and don't appreciate the fine balance of mother Earth and are selfish as a race and unnecessarily cruel. Laline Paull and how she is able to draw readers in to a world and society we would recognise but populate it with cetaceans and other sea fellows just amazes me and is a talent that is as unique as it is captivating deserves a lot more recognition.  I'll be reading Bees by her next, and will appreciate the natural world even more in an entirely different way than I ever did before. Powerful.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Addiction, Rape, Misogyny, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Abandonment, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

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

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

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

vrhayes08's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug use, Violence, Sexism, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Gore, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Addiction

kwahl's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

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

herondaleducks's review against another edition

sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

I didn't enjoy this at all. This did not have the cohesion of story telling that The Bees had. I admire the message but I disliked every second of reading this.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Physical abuse, Animal death, Trafficking, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Gore, Drug use, Rape, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, and Mental illness

readersreadingnook's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Animal death, Violence, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexism, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail