Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

4 reviews

tesslaah's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.0

The world building in this book was interesting but I wish the actual storyline had been developed more. I loved that Butler used the avenue of fantasy and vampire-like people to discuss racism and genetics. Butler does force readers to reconsider notions of consent and perspective of the normalcy in the world. However, one of those avenues was through child sexual activity (abuse) which even with reframing felt like too much and I wish another avenue had been explored instead. 
Ultimately, Fledgling was interesting but ended abruptly and despite a lot of explanation there was not as much storytelling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, and Racism

momoney_moproblems's review against another edition

I wanted to love it because I love Octavia butler. Could not get over the constant pedophila and the very detailed sex scenes between a grown man and a woman “in a child’s body”.  I could maybe finish if these scenes were treated as gruesome (which they are). Instead it seemed more like it was normalizing this behavior, emphasizing the child’s pleasure and arousal. I pushed through initially cause I thought the scenes would stop but it’s a continuing theme through the book and I don’t see any good reason for it. Couldn’t continue. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Child abuse

plainpaige's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

1.5

Ooof. I would have liked this book more if not for the shadow cast over it by the explicit pedophilia of it all. Of course, some will say it's not actually pedophilia, the "child" protagonist was in her 50s! But let's just say, this book will never be made into a movie. Even disregarding the explicit relationships between this person who appears to be ~10 years old, I had trouble finding myself interested in the story or the characters. A third of this book was judicial bureaucratic boredom, and perhaps Butler could have expanded it into a more interesting series, but I personally wouldn't have read the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Classism, Mental illness, Death of parent, Ableism, Gun violence, Addiction, Racism, Violence, Grief, Blood, Child abuse, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Body shaming, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Alcohol, and Incest

redcapediver's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Weird! Let’s pray they never make a movie 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Classism, Blood, Child abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Xenophobia