Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

86 reviews

kates_cupcakes's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

I went into this book blind and I enjoyed it so much. The story behind it is incredibly bleak and honestly so sad. Not being able to trust your own flesh and blood is an absolute nightmare. Add to that being hidden, going through the onslaught of puberty and becoming a parent to your own siblings is horrific. Don’t parentify your kids!!! I can only imagine the amount of therapy these kids would need after this. The ending was a complete shock that had me gasping at my phone. It truly shocks me that anyone could be as cold and heartless as the grandmother. I don’t know why she is like that but I hope she would heal! The descriptions of the space the children have to live and play in are so vivid that you can imagine yourself in the attic and on the roof with them. I cannot believe how immersed I became in this book when I would listen to it, it was like being in a new world. It’s hard for to recommend because of the content but it is a great classic book! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Abandonment

pricebubbline's review against another edition

dark sad slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child abuse

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

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