Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq

22 reviews

rhinaissance's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was a quick, beautiful and wild ride. I am so curious as to where the memoir aspect blended into fiction. What is the truth? Regardless of my curiosity, it is clear that isn't the point. 

Poetic, odd, easy to blaze through and leaves you wondering. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Self harm

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Bullying, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Domestic abuse, Incest, Drug abuse, Gore, Grief, and Pregnancy

tangerinetigerlilies's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, Murder, Pregnancy, Body horror, Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, and Physical abuse

leon3lliott's review against another edition

I was unaware of certain triggers before picking this book up

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

dianahincureads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Split Tooth is an experience. Truly unlike anything I’ve read before. Following the perspective of a young Inuk woman growing up in Nunavut in the 1970s, the novel sketches the portrait of a community affected by colonialism and poverty. At only 11, the unnamed protagonist sees right through the adults around her. Her coming of age is saturated with spirituality, making up for any lack in the material world. To survive the violence she is subjected to daily, she strengthens the ties with her ancestors, holding on to her Inuit identity so tightly that reality blends seamlessly with the unseen. What is real? What is a dream?

Tanya Tagaq’s debut novel is subversive, both in content and form. It is a powerful counter-narrative denouncing the atrocities of colonialism and toxic masculinity. It mixes prose and poetry, autobiography and fiction, reality and myth.

The frozen landscape is an active character. Nature is unforgiving and harsh but aren't humans even harsher? Split Tooth proves just that.

I highly recommend this novel.

📖 « La forme des nuages ressemble à des avertissements codés en morse: l’été ne durera pas. La vie, c’est ça. Mange-la toute de suite. »

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Death, and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Animal cruelty

booksnbones13's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Child death, Murder, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Body horror, and Alcoholism

catapocalypse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

The description of the book doesn't do it full justice; the book is a mix of brief sections of prose, poems, and Jaime Hernandez's illustrations. The narrative is equally fragmented, but forms a powerful whole that is both fierce and vulnerable. Tagaq draws inspiration from her own life in this depiction of growing up in Nunavut that is brutally honest yet shrouded in spirits and visions. The girl at the center of the narrative roams the town and surrounding wilderness through the extended daylight of northern summers and endless night of the winters. She tries to escape the demons plaguing the adults, including alcoholism and sexual abuse. She encounters spirits with varying intentions, and at seventeen one such encounter leads to an unusual pregnancy.

I had to sit with this for a bit, because reading poetry is not something I have enough experience with. Much like Tagaq's music, it's haunting, beautiful, and explores a wide range of emotion and experience. Despite the vast difference between these experiences and my own, there were things that deeply resonated with me.

The brief length of the book and the quick pace the short sections make of it suggest a fast read, but I recommend taking your time to sit with each section, especially if you're inexperienced with poetry or more unconventional narrative styles. Please look up the content warnings if you need, as well; there is a lot of trauma explored, but also a lot of healing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Bullying

Minor: Homophobia, Body horror, Drug use, and Domestic abuse

marissam's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Addiction, Domestic abuse, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Sexual content and Colonisation

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Suicide

livpasquarelli's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Drug use

ktrecs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Religious bigotry, Child death, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Cannibalism and Vomit