Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

3 reviews

literaryinluv's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

a haunting tale about a family's destruction at the hands of the american dream

2nd time reading

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Dementia, and Car accident

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

thevampiremars's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Here’s the thing: stories written by American authors that challenge the myth of the American Dream often don’t resonate with me, at least not as much as I expect they’re intended to. There’s a cultural disconnect. That fairytale isn’t entrenched in my culture and we don’t really have an equivalent that inspires that same fanatic hope. I haven’t been fed this narrative since birth, I haven’t internalised its message, I have no attachment to it and what it represents. Refutation of a belief I do not hold doesn’t shock me, especially when I find that belief to be, frankly, obvious bullshit. To be fair, Death of a Salesman was written for theatre-going audiences in New York in the 1940s, not some anticapitalist Brit reading the script in book form more than seventy years later.

The titular salesman, Willy Loman, is painfully sympathetic and unsympathetic. He’s a deeply flawed individual who still has value simply by virtue of being human. That’s the idea, at least, but without an actor’s charisma to sell the character, to make me care about him, he’s a little too unpleasant for my liking. Shifting moral standards have no doubt shifted perspectives on Willy. For example, him threatening to beat his kids may have been seen as harsh back in the day but now most people would call that outright abusive. It makes it hard to root for him, though I understand it’s not supposed to be easy to.

Perhaps if I’d seen Death of a Salesman performed instead of reading the script I’d have had a more profound experience. As it stands, I can give a noncommittal shrug and confess it said what Miller wanted it to say but it didn’t speak to me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and War

swazwald's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Cursing