Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

89 reviews

eule's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book is haunting and beautiful at the same time. The characters were incredibly vivid and traceable meaning that you could feel how torn apart Elle is between the past and the present. Lovely depiction of nature and the fragility of relationships. 
So much (!!!) emotional trauma in one book. Please check the trigger warnings, it gets pretty graphic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Grief

sunshine_2's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

3.0

I had not read a book for myself for a while before randomly picking this up at the library. It was an alright jump back into reading novels; it’s an interesting story that also has highly descriptive imagery for the beautiful setting. However, it didn’t entirely grip me as I didn’t find myself rooting for the prominent love story. A large amount of characters were introduced throughout the story, and it was confusing at times to keep track of everybody. Additionally, there were multiple points depicting upsetting acts that I was not expecting. The ending is obscure and is left to the reader’s interpretation. Overall, it was okay, but I’m not sure I would recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

daniela_is_reading's review against another edition

challenging dark sad

• Loveable characters? No

3.25

Please read trigger warning before picking this book up.

There's a theme of sexual abuse throughout the book, and it's quite confronting. What fell short for me is my inability to actually like any of the characters, which is upsetting. Nevertheless, i still didn't mind the read, I just felt frustrated. And....., maybe that's the point. It's complex.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

lbh_0327's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

dreadpiraterudis's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Lots of trigger warnings for this book. Had way more traumatic content than I thought was necessary- not really sure the suffering furthered the plot in a tangible way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, and Murder

serenereadssally's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I have mixed feelings about this book. Within the first 5 minutes of reading this there is an unnecessary description of child sexual abuse, just thrown in a paragraph like it’s nothing. 

This then becomes a theme throughout the book, which also includes abusive neglectful parents, animal abuse, incest, child rape, knife crime and, now seeming tame in comparison, marital infidelity. 

While I understand we should not run from these subjects I’m not sure in this case we should have run towards them. A lot of the descriptions felt gratuitous and not needed. The writing was good, hence the three stars, but this just backs up my opinion that she didn’t need to throw all this at the storyline in such a graphic way. I skipped over the sexual abuse scenes as they were truly stomach churning. 

I also felt that while I know not all stories ‘go somewhere’ the ending left me feeling very flat. But then, I wonder where it could have gone anyway. 

The character building was wonderful, the atmosphere and ambience of the back woods was delicious. She captured guilt and loss and heartbreak perfectly and I enjoyed the unusual timeline, but I feel she didn’t need all the other stuff. 

Definitely think it’s a divisive book. Would I recommend? Probably no, there are much better in this genre. Please make sure you read trigger warnings. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual harassment

milliganco's review against another edition

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Incest

Minor: Cancer, Child death, and Emotional abuse

kaffee_auf_ex's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

2.0

Beautifully written, yet so incredibly problematic.

Every adult in this book only exists to abuse Elle. Even strangers only exist to punch her or break into her house and assault her. All the adults are abusive towards children. Trauma is there for pure shock value and to be edgy. 

Reese Witherspoon teased that there would be a fascinating love triangle. She absolutely broke my trust. You call this a love triangle? 

- mild spoilers ahead -

Does it deserve to be a love triangle if the husband and mother team up to abuse Elle? If we are told that she loves him but everytime she things to herself that she loves him it is in a situation in which he was being toxic because that's all he ever is? He is a red flag walking from the very moment he comes into her life. All he ever does is gaslight her and never take her seriously but instead bully her together with her mother who is incredibly abusive.

And maybe this could be okay if there was something that we get out of all that. If she ever realised he was being abused or really call out her mother for the incredible amount of abuse. But she never does.

And I won't even talk about Jonas not being a consent king because compared to all of the rape and abuse going on, he is the nicest person in the book if you don't count Anna who is my favourite character.

The story is unnecessarily long and filled with some more abuse that we don't need. Yes, there's an abusive spouse of a parent. Oh wait, they get remarried and we get another abusive spouse because the first wasn't enough. Oh, here's a family friend or whatever behaving inappropriately towards children. 

And here is some abuse that another family member face that is not directly relevant but still told to us in graphic detail like all of the rape is because, well, shock value. 

It's so sad that a woman can't have character growth without sexual drama but wait - there's no character growth. Elle is one of the worst main characters I have ever read because she is passive from the beginning even when her own passiveness hurts more people than just herself and she never learns. She never calls out abuse for what it is.

Let me summarise what this book is: Straight cis  rich white people abusing each other and especially children because they don't have enough struggles in their lives to keep athem entertained and plot convenience. Easily the least diverse book I have read in my live because it doesn't feature anything else than straight cis rich white people.

One mayor question remains: Why did the author waste her incredible writing talent for such an edgy and tone deaf story? To sell more books? To have more chances at having it picked up for TV adaption? Because damn, that woman can write. She really sucked me in. I hope for her to get some perspective and write something less problematic because yes, I would like to read more of her writing, just a whole different story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child death and Terminal illness

joey1914's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

marissa_roo's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

The mixed chronology feels intentional as flashbacks help tell the present tense story. It feels authentic, and fair to the protagonist - there are flaws, issues, challenges, and imperfection. It is hard to come down on any one side and judge her for being human! The ending is up for debate - some find it too vague, others think it is clear; I think you will come to whatever assumption you formed throughout the journey. Very nostalgic, mature, and contemplative story about growth; we are who our lives have made us.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Minor: Emotional abuse