Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

25 reviews

claudini's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Murder, Hate crime, Violence, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Blood

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Abandonment, Addiction, Drug use, and Cursing

Minor: Abortion

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is definitely one of those books where you leave it feeling really sad and upset and worried about the characters. And it feels weird to say that you liked it because there is some real bad shit going on in this book. I wonder how the experience would have been different if I would have read this book, and not had the great narration and musicality of the accent.  I want to read the other book that Mr. Stuart has written, but I think I need to take a break for a while in case Shuggie Bain is as heart-wrenching a character as Mungo is. This is definitely one that will have more trigger warnings selected than not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Alcoholism, Bullying, Physical abuse, Outing, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Murder, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abortion, Blood, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, and Death of parent

Big big trigger warning for

sexual assault and child abuse.

fluffy1st's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Toxic relationship

tarsier's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, Blood, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Addiction, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Abortion

Minor: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Drug use, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

doramag's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Murder, Blood, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Violence, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Rape, Physical abuse, Outing, and Domestic abuse

maggiemaryamos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Murder, Physical abuse, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Torture

mabs_grace's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

2.5

There were parts of this book that I liked as much as a 5 star read, but the toxic masculinity and abusive nature of the characters really started to piss me off by the time I was half way through the book. I loved the writing, it was beautiful but god damn I almost DNF’d this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Homophobia, Murder, and Rape

Moderate: Miscarriage and Abortion

tashmachin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Pedophilia

Minor: Excrement

signeskov's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This novel quite literally left me breathless and in a pool of fresh tears. More than that, it provoked physical reactions in me so intense that I would swing from heartfelt smiling and happiness in one moment to nausea and horror in the next – and honestly, I probably felt most of the latter. So, with all due respect, check the content warnings before reading. I went into reading this book with no context and without having even read the blurp, and while that was part of a surprisingly good reading experience for me, preperation for what was ahead might have been necessary for others.

Douglas Stuart's writing is something special. Some of its lyricism brought me to read certain paragraphs or sentences over and over because it simply put human reflection so perfectly and elegantly to paper. His writing, and in particular his dialogue, is also skillful in encapsulating a certain group of characters in time and space, and, if you are an outsider to that group, you slowly learn to have a peek in through the blinds, and what you find at a closer look is beautiful and simolteanously traumatizing.

In many ways, the themes in this book touched places so deep in my heart that I cannot remember when I last had such an experience – perhaps A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. The struggle of growing up in a family stretched thin across generations; the power of sacrifice; love in all of its ugly and beautiful forms; soulcrushing self-destruction; horrendous, Nietzschean violence; and not at least, masculinity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Misogyny, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abortion

pstillbejeweled's review against another edition

Well, I was looking for romance and this was not for me. RARELY happy a moment. Of course, I have read the reviews and TWs but there are MORE disturbing contents than I expected, my wee heart cannae take it 💔 the timeline shift is jarring and doesn't add anything to the novel btw 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Rape, Bullying, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexism, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, and Child abuse