Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

13 reviews

annabeth_jackson's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Police brutality, Self harm, Slavery, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, War, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Confinement, Grief, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Child death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Genocide, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Racism

walskishere's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense

I don't feel comfortable rating this, but I did want to make a "review" to say I enjoyed this. I read both parts in a single day. I liked the present-day-to-flashback thing that was going on. I think adding in how Mr.  Spiegelman is in the present caused reflection on how the Holocaust experiences affect the survivors.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, War, Police brutality, Hate crime, Gun violence, Murder, Genocide, Torture, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Gore, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Grief, and Deportation

Moderate: Excrement, Xenophobia, Child abuse, and Suicide

Minor: Terminal illness

m4rtt4's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Wow. I'm speechless. I'd wanted to read this for so long, and it exceeded every expectation I had. Such a raw story. Very emotional and thought-provoking. I don't understand how and why this has been banned in some places – in no way could this book ever promote n*zism in a good way. Everyone should read this; massive content warnings for everything related to the Holocaust and WW2 though. Still, very important.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Murder, Slavery, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Child abuse, Suicide, Torture, Child death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, War, Excrement, and Genocide

spooderman's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, War, Xenophobia, Death, Medical content, Murder, Racial slurs, Animal death, Slavery, Grief, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Violence, Antisemitism, Confinement, Death of parent, Deportation, Gun violence, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, and Torture

Moderate: Medical trauma, Dementia, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

bubbly_lara's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Everyone should read this graphic novel, if their mental health allows for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Child abuse, Antisemitism, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Genocide, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

bethshuff's review

challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism

Moderate: Child abuse and Murder

haylethal's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Excrement, Genocide, Grief, Antisemitism, Child death, Child abuse, War, Xenophobia, Classism, Death, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

kiwikarelus's review

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Death of parent, War, Xenophobia, Suicide, Child death, Confinement, Murder, Ableism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Hate crime, Genocide, Antisemitism, Gore, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Death

shreyash_89's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Child abuse, Death, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, and Hate crime

oldtoadwoman's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

I read this in the midst of it getting banned in schools, so that was in the back of my head as I read. I think this book should definitely be taught in a larger context (historical, discussions of Vladek's own overt racism, sensitivity to how students will react to suicide and murder, etc), but I also think there is a built-in age limit because of the difficult vocabulary and grammar. (You can almost hear Vladek's Polish accent in the syntax of how his dialogue is written.) I don't think there is any danger of a very small child picking up this "comic book" and being accidentally scandalized by naked mice. The true horror of this story is the historical reality, which everyone needs to learn eventually.

At first, I didn't understand why the author chose to make the Jewish characters mice, but... it would have honestly been too horrible with people. The author also clearly acknowledges that the mice aren't really mice. There's a clever meta discussion at one point, where he and his wife debate whether he should draw her as a mouse (Jewish) or a frog (French) since she is a convert. (She is depicted as a mouse even as they have the conversation of which she should be.) It also underscores the racial lines that were perceived at the time. The Polish are depicted as pigs and the Germans as cats and the French as frogs, but the Jews are always depicted as mice regardless of nationality. 

The principal character, the author/artist's father Vladek, is not a likeable person at all. I appreciate that Spiegelman didn't try to gloss over this or make excuses for him. (More than once, he points out that other Holocaust survivors that he knew growing up did not share all of Vladek's unpleasant quirks and thus it cannot be solely blamed on trauma.)

This is not a light read at all. It's a book about the Holocaust. There is no happy ending. But it's a good book and I recommend that you read it if you can.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Antisemitism, Death, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, and Child abuse

Minor: Blood and Cursing