Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

A Very Typical Family by Sierra Godfrey

15 reviews

syazahaniss's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

1.0

I finished this book but until now I have no idea what the point of the story is.

This book had a lot of potential but the execution was so bad. How was I still waiting for something to happen at 90%??? I genuinely didn’t know what was going on the entire time.

Natalie was so annoying making her putting her siblings in prison all those years ago her entire personality. And speaking of, I personally feel that their reason for ending up in jail wasn’t that substantial? But then again I’ve never been to jail so.

The conflicts were so lame and trivial too. I think they would have added more value and substance to the story if the author had expanded on them a bit more. On top of that, the conflict resolution aspect was altogether too convenient – there was barely any effort on Natalie’s part and everything seemed to unrealistically fall from the sky for her.

Some of the details of the story were repeated a few times too (for example Ashier with the gala, Dr Berkhower with the degree require for the illustration job), which made me think that the author forgot what she had and had not mentioned.

Overall a disappointment.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse and Gaslighting

Minor: Blood, Death of parent, Infidelity, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Vomit

torlee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Drug use, and Vomit

marieeveparentroy's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, Violence, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Cancer, and Death

skyba3's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Addiction, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Drug use

Moderate: Blood, Vomit, Death, and Cancer

mrmarshall591's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

This was a very fast paced book focused largely on healing and moving forward on an individual level (from the perspective of the narrator) and on a family level. I enjoyed it a lot with my favorite character being the cat.

There was one prevalent issue that has my rating at a 4 star and it is something that I noticed originally from another review when I was earlier in the book- but it would have become apparent on my own. Over 15 years ago Natalie’s siblings Lynn and Jake were sentenced to jail time as a result of illicit drug use which resulted in the death of their close friend. Natalie had been the person who called the cops both out of anger but also since Lynn really did hurt herself. The friend took his own life after realizing the cops were called.

Below this point has some minor spoilers.

Natalie is blamed for ALL of it. Even her mom does  not talk to her for those 15 years, and her mom’s death is what leads to the premise of the book as she wants to bring the three siblings back together. Those sympathetic to her mention it having been an “honest mistake”. Everything is about forgiving Natalie, not addressing that even though she “rat” them out that she did not set them up for anything- they were adults who honestly had Natalie in a dangerous situation. Lynn and Jake later react incredulously when Natalie did not call the cops during a time when it was absolutely critical to, due to all of that trauma of last time she called. 

While that did bother me, I really enjoyed the combination of drama, romance, nerdiness and a bit of mystery. It was a great read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Stalking, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Excrement, Addiction, Blood, Grief, and Vomit

Minor: Confinement and Terminal illness

gabfont1102's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Vomit

booksngrannies's review against another edition

emotional medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Blood, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

bean_7088's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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

3.5

I liked this more than I thought I would. 
People reconnecting and growing is a great trope. 
I loved the relationship between Natalie and her nephew. It was very sweet. 
There were a few annoying bits, the microscope miscommunication was annoying and I'm glad it didn't last too long. 
Paul sucks. Allan extra sucks. 

I did like the exploration of complicated family relationships. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Animal death

Moderate: Death of parent

Book circles around the death of a parent and a past night of drug use leading to a death. 1 violent domestic abuse scene near the end of the book. Everyone is ok in the end. Oh, and the main character likes to sketch dead animals.

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

I picked up this one as a Big Library Read book. Libby sets things up so there are unlimited library eCopies of the book to download digitally (including Audiobook versions). Looking at the cover I presumed it might be pretty corny, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I was surprised to find myself as the target audience. The main character is a woman who has been settling for much of her life and has never chased up on her passion projects. She has allowed her partner to belittle her efforts and has fallen into a rut where it is normal for him to be the controlling partner in her life. When 2 life changing influences coincidentally shake her life up, she is given the headspace to reassess what she is doing with her life.

The main character is someone who is interested in drawing biological specimens. I vibed with her whole habit of finding cool minibeasts or bits of broken animal and wanting to keep records of them. FOR SCIENCE! I deeply identified with the feeling of having others disgusted by the objects of your fascination, wanting to get pictures of dead birds' feet, and also the problem of having baby mantises accidentally hatch in your bedroom.. or.. all over your bedroom.

This is also a story of family reconciliation. Getting an estranged family back together again as part of a family bequest makes this an inheritance story with some cool twists. It's got a lot more trauma than I was expecting. The sister is a kick-ass goth who is a trained mortician. I think I can see a theme in the way this family works.

Didn't really expect it to be so focused on romance though. I found the development of friendships and relationships in the story so captivating that I forgot to stop the book.. and then found I had oopsed a 1-day-read. Uhm.. yes I quite liked this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Drug use, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Blood, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Stalking, Terminal illness, and Cancer

Minor: Vomit

dev921's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Cancer, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, and Vomit