Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

83 reviews

elisalasater's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Abandonment

Moderate: Incest, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Car accident

homebodynate's review against another edition

dark emotional sad

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

1.0

I read this as an adult to see what the hype (i guess???) was about 😑

I feel like this book brings up a lot of heavy topics and interesting ideas - religious trauma, toxic parents, abuse, misogyny etc - only to fumble them so badly. Like Cathy has her entire life uprooted, experiences her mother slowly turning negligent and abusive, finds out about this generational trauma that effects every woman in her family, loses her younger brother and all this other stuff; but the book is so caught up in old school misogyny that it can't really conceptualise an ending for her that isn't still wrapped up in patriarchy and these conservative ideas of how men and women in relationships ought to behave. Like she enters into and then escapes this horrible abusive family but her "happy ending" is just her ending up with another horrible abusive man anyways 😐 and the abuse is like immediately forgiven and excused by the narrative I can't with this.
Also all the incest shit was fuckin weird.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death, Self harm, and Death of parent

Minor: Car accident

meanotherself's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

wowsmeows's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, and Car accident

greysun69's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

3.0

TW: Child Abuse, Incest, Gaslighting, Child Neglect, Manipulation, Child Confinement , Racist terminology, Ableism, Religious Abuse, Rape, Sexual Coercion, Victim Blaming, Misogyny,Suicidal Ideations, Death of a parent, Self-harm

3.5⭐️ This book is a classic and for that reason there are certain things that didn’t age well such as the term “tar baby”, “retarded”, and the word “ugly” being used to describe a person with a incest-caused birth defect. Although the preteens didn’t speak like preteens, I suspended my disbelief just to read this book. Honestly, this shit was sad as fuck. I was sad for the manipulation of the brother that was supposed to be the smart one. The twins and Cathy all saw that the mom was a liar and couldn’t be trusted but Chris always wanted to believe in her. If by some miracle you weren’t marred by this book or movie, look up the trigger warnings because I may have missed some. The mother pissed me off more than The Grandmother did. The book described that a loving mother was changed by greed but she was simply a narcissist playing the role of a loving mother. The grandmother was simply a bxtch. Those little fxckers didn’t have to kill that mouse! I didn’t like the end but that’s because of cliffhangers.
The book was well-written and I’m willing to read the next book. The movie and the book were similar, but there were key moments in the book that were changed in the movie.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

mad_dog_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Pregnancy

sofipitch's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

So this was one of the few books in my childhood I was actually told not to read bc of the content, and I didn't know where to get it so I didn't. So I do feel the need to defend it on those grounds, there are also a lot of negative reviews calling it gross and such. And compared to something like Lapvona it is well put together, Lapvona is just an author putting every bad thing she can think of into a book so by the third incest/cannibalism/ whatever it's just boring and tacky. Here the incest and rape are a result of the abuse the MCs face, which is the result of histories of abuse from the family. In that regards I feel like it actually wants to explore what the themes at the same time as it wants to shock you.
The biggest flaw is that it's not well written, it reads like someone's first attempt at writing/first novel, it is clunky and just a bit meh. I wanted more given the gothic genre. Cathy is also reading a book once and says she likes to pause over pretty phrases, same, but I only did that once or twice. It also has pacing issues.
But I can see the appeal as a gothic fiction lover and think if kids/teens want to read this one they should be able to. It picks up near the end and becomes more thriller like

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Incest, and Death of parent

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

thehaylflayl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Vomit

coco78337's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

chuckyinspace's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Murder