Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry

12 reviews

aleen_elizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

luna_98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

i don’t know how to rate this book. it was so good in the sense that it made me feel things, it left a mark on me. but i doubt i’d reread and i don’t think i would recommend it. the story is so raw, vulnerable, and difficult and i feel like it was written in a way only a child psychologist could pull off (hence DOCTOR lucinda berry!!). 
it altered my brain chemistry and made me uncomfortable and uneasy but because of that, it was an impactful and real life story. it made me question how would i handle this situation if it happened to me. it’s unlike any book i’ve ever read and part of me misses the person i was before reading it lol. 

in short, if you read books to make you happy and feel good, do not read this. 
if you read books to FEEL emotions and delve into the human experience, then proceed with caution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Incest and Sexual assault

hyggebugg's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Pedophilia

cewhouser7405's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

naomi_small's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

3.75

Just mind blowing 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Incest, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

mecmccann's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I’m so torn about how I feel about this book. I’m going to write out all my rambling thoughts, please forgive the messiness that will be this review. 

Saving Noah is about a young boy who molested two five year old girls at swim practice which he coached. He was arrested and sent to a juvenile correction facility where he would receive treatment to lower the chances that he would reoffend. We follow his relationship with his mother who loves him endlessly. 

The mom comes across as if she thinks he’s a victim. He is indeed a perpetrator, but he is a victim of the justice system and social scrutiny, which I won’t comment on the morality of. I didn’t necessarily appreciate this aspect of the mom’s response to the situation. About 40% into the book, it does become more self aware, the dad calls her out on this and she addresses it. So I guess I can forgive that. 

After it became aware of what it was doing, it was just so sad.

The portrayal of depression and the horrifying suicide attempts were a lot. It was haunting being in the head of someone witnessing such darkness in their child. I did cry in the last chapter from the mom’s perspective.

I called the twist right at the beginning. I knew the dad was a pedophile the whole time. I thought maybe he was the other POV when they talked about shock therapy, just because that’s supper outdated, but I wasn’t certain. And I’m willing to bet that, even though he didn’t admit it, he was molesting his daughter too, she showed signs of sexual abuse like wetting the bed.

Overall this book did elicit an emotional response, so I think it did its job. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

kirstyyreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

cbressler80's review against another edition

dark sad fast-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

4.0

I mean wow…. I started this book feeling one way and ended it feeling another way.  It’s a hard read especially if you are a mom.  But it truly answers the question of how far a person would go for TRUE love.  That twist at the end.? Never saw that coming.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

urbanstheno's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape

Minor: Mental illness, Grief, and Abandonment

kiddocut's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

3.25

This book is not for everyone. Don’t go into it thinking there is a big twist once you read what the subject matter is-there is no twist.  That’s the point.

It’s one of the most challenging and upsetting things I’ve ever listened to and if you skip bits I don’t blame you-I had to skip some final chapters to “finish” this book. <specifically those associated with assisted suicide>

I think it takes great skill to write about this subject matter in a humanizing light without excusing the actions of the MC’s son. 

The point of the book is seeing her do everything she thinks she can to save her son from his own urges-even denying the truth or hoping it’s a mistake…and how that rips her family apart.  And yeah the MC does stupid and dangerously risky things to do that-but I can’t help but understand how hard it must be with the association of someone like her son. 

I think this book does a good job with the ripples of victimhood that the actions of the MC’s son actually does. That it affects every family member and how it affects them. And I think we forget that aspect of these kinds of crimes. 

If you can stomach it, (again, it’s not for the faint of heart) the change of perspective is interesting in and of itself.  

And as much as I like that, I do wish there was like a blurb or something about the research in this book-especially when it comes to the profiling efforts. It’s well researched but i still felt left hanging. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Don’t go into this thinking there is a twist like I did-I was mislead by a friend suggestion, there *is* a slight one, but it’s so minuscule and misleading that it’s a pseudo twist that has no affect on the MC or her son.