Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill

10 reviews

bookerage's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Alcohol

benjiisabookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I loved this book! It’s on my ‘weird girlhood’ list! It’s hard to read and dark but weirdly hopeful and makes me feel seen even though I’ve never experienced the things that Baby did. Amazing and complicated characters. AMAZING writing :))) 
<3333

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

PLEASE READ WITH CAUTION AND READ TRIGGER WARNINGS!!!

gknott's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

brittney_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a difficult book to get through. The juxtaposition of childhood and prostitution was jarring for the second half of the book. I want to grab Baby and give her a hug and tell her that she is loved. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Abandonment

livcab's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.0

crazy ass book........ i need smth light after this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Car accident, and Death of parent

cheaploaf's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Very dark and a little hard to read at some points because of the main character being a young child facing terrible things. Beautifully written, the author has an amazing way of using metaphors to really capture the imagery of the story. Would definitely recommend but also take care while reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Trafficking, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

savvylit's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Lullabies for Little Criminals is incredibly bleak. Yet I couldn't stop reading. O'Neill has a gorgeous way of writing about brutal events that kept me craving more and more of Baby's story. Baby is an incredibly real-seeming narrator and character. O'Neill perfectly captured the thought patterns of a child and the ultimate effect is devastating. No matter what terrible things befall Baby, she only wants to be loved. That need for love gets her into even more awful situations that genuinely broke my heart to read about. As I read, I came to realize that O'Neill displays a clarity when writing about life on the streets as a child in Montreal that could only stem from familiarity. As it turns out, she was also a poor child in Montreal in the same time period as Baby. One can only presume that much of this book is drawn from what she did and/or saw in her own youth.

I'm very much looking forward to reading more of O'Neill's work after this. There's almost a melodic quality to her prose that I am eager to experience again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

jasmineb's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

deandra_lalonde's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism

juliaz's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Just so so sad. The first half was lighthearted but now I feel like my brain has ants running through it. Very unpleasant. As David Rakoff’s review points out, “its harrowing tale is (virtuosically) told without a trace of self-pity or bathos”. Made me feel things wow. 

Also I liked the writing but it sometimes felt like too many comparisons were lined up one after the other. They were good comparisons though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment