Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

38 reviews

emmacaron's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Fire/Fire injury

panic_at_the_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

I am a big fan of how this book focussed on friendships. The bit of romance that occured was only a side-story. The characters felt so real, because they had such natural reactions and each one of them had realistic strengths and flaws. 

I think Alice Oseman showed us another perspective on friendships, romance, family/parents and university. Romance isn't the most important thing in life, at least not to everybody out there. Friendships are amazing but they face struggles as well. Parents don't always know what's best for you and definitely don't always do what is best for you. This story showed how parents can be pretty toxic too, however there weren't a lot of explicit scenes making this book a bit easier to get through without making it seem less important to do something about an abusive connection you have. 

The only thing I struggled with were the sometimes chaotics timeskips. Sometimes I wasn't fully sure what exactly was happening and where which character was, making the story a bit messy to follow here and there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

lilshelly's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

5.0

Sobbing. This book was everything. Alice Oseman continues to impress me with just how real the characters are. 

This story encapsulates so many difficult things so very well. The discussions of mental illness and abuse were crafted so well. It was all so real that it genuinely took me time to read and process. I know the academia themes are prevalent in Alice's books, but the way they're discussed is phenomenal. This extravagant pressure to be clever and get degrees is so ingrained in modern society. I'm happy that the issues with that are being discussed in YA lit. 

We all just want someone to hear us.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Mental illness, Child abuse, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, and Homophobia

olliee's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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 may be my favorite book of all time. The characters were amazing, they were so developed and thought out SO WELL.. it’s hard to think they aren’t real people. I’ve never felt so many emotions reading.. it could have me go from angry, to sobbing my eyes out and unable to catch my breath, to absolutely grinning ear to ear- so hard I thought my cheeks would crack. There’s so much about Aled that I relate to.. and I loved Radio Silence so much.: it was so interesting and beautiful. Please check triggers before reading though.. I won’t lie- there was some very VERY heavy topics.. and some well described topics of depression and mentions of suicide, child abuse etc… but this is definitely a book that will forever stick with me, and I’m so glad I stumbled upon it. This may be one of my top favorite books of all time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia

Moderate: Physical abuse and Violence

Minor: Animal death

navayiota's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

Read it in two sittings.. Started it on a sleepless night and finished it not even 24 hours later. I don't often get to read such easy books. Stories that practically read themselves to you. Always nice to find a new favourite. I related to all of the characters so much, and although I got a bit angry at them for making such stupid decisions, I still love them. This is the kind of book you annotate and gift to your favourite Tumblr mutual. I might do that, actually. 

I got trans girl vibes from Aled from the beginning, so I was sad when I realised it wasn't the case. All queerness is welcome though, and I'm glad to see asexual (specifically demi) representation!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, and Stalking

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Confinement

caiteve12's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Toxic friendship

dannythestreet's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring relaxing 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Racism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Biphobia, Grief, and Animal death

Minor: Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

beccam22's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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? N/A

4.0

I don’t know if this book will be popular with current young adults but feel it was written for the kids in high school around 2012-2016 as there are a lot of references to that time especially around tumblr and internet fan culture. The story is still great despite that and easy to read, enjoyable, and very relatable during that transition period out of high school and what is next. This is not a romance story and does not try to be, it is pure friendship and so wholesome. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Animal death

I wanted to add contact warning because they are not often but still there and do not see many people mentioning it. There is a mother who is overbearing and objectified her children to what she wants them be and forces it on them. Some people will be able to relate to this and might not be in the right head space for it while others will be might find solace in being able to relate.

cookiecat73's review against another edition

emotional funny fast-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

4.5

This was my first novel by Alice Oseman (although I've read heartstopper online), and I really liked it!

Something I wasn't really aware of going into the book was that a main part of the plot revolves around things happening online, and a youtube channel called universe city, and if I'm honest, it was my least favourite part. I loved the characters, but I found all the internet drama a bit too overdramatic and although the plot was good, I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was less over-the-top. I also found it a little too fast paced? I think some of the emotional scenes could have done with a little more time, things could feel a little rushed at times, or there was a time-jump which I felt skipped over too much.
The characters were definitely my favourite part, I thought they were all really good.
Some thoughts on the ending:

I think I would have prefered the ending to have been a more low-key scene with just the friends hanging out and recovering and healing and starting to thrive and re-adjust to the new lives they're building for themselves, rather than another dramatic scene with Aled's internet fame being the happy ending, although I did like the way it was done. I was also sort of hoping Aled was going to come out as non-binary at the end, becuase he often mentions how much he relates to radio and feels like he is radio, and radio is agender. Also with the whole hair thing. Again, I'm okay with how it ended, I just would have liked that :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Blood, Outing, and Suicide

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual content, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, and Confinement

captainoliimar's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. I felt like I could relate to a lot of the characters, especially Frances and Aled. It took me back to being being in year 11 and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life and figure out who I was going to be in university. The story felt fairly realistic while also having a mystery woven through it that kept me engaged and wanting to find out what happens next.
I really think I would have enjoyed this book while I was doing my A-Levels, though it does cover quite a few potentially triggering topics. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia and Stalking