Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

89 reviews

casparquarius's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

4.0

dark, emotional, and challenging are hardly strong enough to explain the feelings it gave me to read and man was it good. intense, mind the content warnings, but I am definitely glad I read it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Vomit

madi_summerr's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

Moderate: Body shaming, Terminal illness, and Car accident

key_lime_cake's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.5

This book did not shy away from very difficult content and uncomfortable feelings and situations. I would not recommend this book for anyone younger than 18.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, and Rape

Moderate: Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

mx0dd's review against another edition

dark 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Incest, Death of parent, and Abandonment

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

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

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

corporatelobotomy's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

this was just... sad. that's all i can say. so, so incredibly sad. it's true when they say all children deserve parents, but not all parents deserve children.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

moonytoast's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Rape, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

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