Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

5 reviews

izypup's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Heed the content warnings.  Nothing is overtly graphic or descriptive but it is very clear what is going on. 
It was an emotionally challenging book but the subject matter was handled with care and I feel Elizabeth Scott depicted the cycle of abuse, victims becoming abusers, and imperfect victims well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Self harm and Suicide attempt

Tw: Starvation and denied food

chloseencounter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Living Dead Girl has been on my TBR for so long, I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump and in the mood to sit down and read an entire book in one sitting so I felt like it was finally time to give this novella a try. 

I initially rated this book a 3.5 but the longer I’ve sat with it, the more impact it’s had on me. I’ll say right off the bat that this wasn’t  the most “fun” read in the world but the story was gripping and an interesting look into a kidnapping/abuse victim’s psyche.

 The way that “Alice” no longer cared about protecting others, she just wanted her own suffering to be over so badly was a bleak but realistic take on living in such a depraved way. Alice really was so deeply manipulated, there was so many times she could’ve gotten away but she was too blinded by her curated reality that she didn’t think it was possible. She was believed so deeply that her captor knew anything and everything even when he was not around.

There was some very interesting commentary in here as well about the bystander effect and how people should really be trying to reach out when they see something they feel may be wrong.

There were so many characters outside of Ray’s abuse that could’ve ultimately changed things for Alice. There was even a bit where she mentioned that victims on television were often blamed for not getting out of their situations sooner. People would say things about them like “why didn’t she say anything?” when every time Alice was in public it was a cry for help, even if indirectly, but people choose to look away from what makes them uncomfortable.

When Alice finally showed her humanity at the end of the story it made her all the more tragic and honestly the ending was probably about as good as I could’ve hoped for her.

I don’t think there was a world that she could’ve gone back to and lived successfully in but her being able to experience freedom before her death was bitter sweet. I cried when she tried to tell Lucy her name.

 

Overall, the read was quick and tense, the story itself isn't super plot heavy but if anything this was a very  interesting character study. I wouldn’t recommend this read to everyone, it was challenging and raw but that doesn’t mean these subject matters don’t need to be said or heard. This one was really a sleeper hit with me, I finished feeling as if it was well written but too abrupt however the lasting impact this novel has left on me is a lot more than I can say for many books.

I’d lastly like to commend the author on being able to tell a story with a lot of SA in it without having to go into descriptive detail about those actions once…things were alluded to, they were implied, they were said, but they were never broken down for us in a very detailed way. I think this makes the book mean more and feel less like it was created for shock value, as well as making this story more digestible to a larger audience. Just because this kind of stuff really does happen and we should speak about it doesn’t mean that we ever need to write detailed descriptions about non consensual  s*xual acts especially between adults and minors. This book definitely proves that there’s a way to say it without saying it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Racism, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

kalfried's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-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

If you start this book, be prepared to finish it the same day. It’s so gripping I couldn’t put it down. It’s absolutely gripping, horrifying, and one I will be thinking about for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Gaslighting

the_escapist's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-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: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Pedophilia, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide attempt