Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

9 reviews

bookellys's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is an incredible read!

I loved the writing style and how the narration would switch between characters unannounced yet seamless. The inclusion of the Spanish phases were so simple yet gave you that little reminder and a sense of someone’s story being translated for you.

It’s extremely descriptive, I could almost feel the rumble of la bestia beneath me. This also made it a tough read at times, as you get so invested in the characters, some of whom go through unspeakable experiences. 

If you enjoyed (is that the right word for this type of book?) The Beekeeper of Aleppo then I think you’d enjoy this too. For me, this hits the mark whereas The Beekeeper felt like there was something missing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Police brutality, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Deportation, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, and Torture

katelyn_beee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Deportation, Gun violence, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Murder, Drug use, Blood, Rape, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Child death

tkibbee17's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.0

So much trauma 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Death, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Confinement, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Grief, Deportation, Trafficking, Terminal illness, Murder, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Stalking, Sexism, and Gun violence

chelck's review against another edition

sad tense 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? No

2.0

A series of terrible things happening. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Child death

mcsaucysox's review against another edition

1.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Child death

matthew_t24's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Rape

orlagal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Vomit, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Rape, Racism, and Pregnancy

beccic's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

I really wanted to enjoy this book, as so many people I know really enjoyed it, but I just couldn't get into it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

domtheknight's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

I feel that I can't rate this book because I'm extremely conflicted about many things.  I read it because someone picked it for a book club I'm in; otherwise I would not have picked it up based on description.  If I hadn't felt that I should finish it in order to participate in book club, I would have put it down almost immediately, and at many additional times throughout the story.  This book was not for me.

As for whether it's for anybody... from a technical writing standpoint, like in terms of making good sentences with words that sound and feel a certain way, Jeanne Cummins has skills.  It's bare and factual for the most part, but every paragraph is screaming in grief, underneath.  Grief, and horror and desperation.  It's creepy in that way, and sometimes that's good and what is right for the story.  But given the subject matter and the author, it honestly crossed the "violence for violence sake and not to further the story" line many times.  

The point of this story, having sat on this review overnight, seemed to be everything that can go wrong will be more awful than you can imagine.  I don't know why you tell that story.  There's no character growth.  Is the point to generate sympathy for immigrants?  Is the point to just be horror?  I think there's too much grief to be horror, but it's not really a grief book either.  It didn't feel like a horror book and it wasn't marketed as horror, but that's the ultimate end story I get from it.  I never cried, I just felt numb.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Police brutality, and Infertility

I'm not sure I got all the warnings. This book is very dark and fairly graphic about it, the plot is that a woman sees 16 members of her family shot (this is in the first couple paragraphs), manages to save her son, and then must run. They are in Mexico, they take various migrant paths, with some migrants coming from further south countries. There are gangs and violence and Lydia basically decides they need to go to the USA fairly early on and the rest of the story is whether or not they make it, plus some details about situations their fellow migrants are running from. In some cases the details left off the page felt worse than what was on the page.