Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel

8 reviews

anonymous_user's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.25

This book made me cry and was very heavy. Definitely check content warnings before reading, I was not fully prepared. The book seriously seemed to include  just about every trigger/trauma that ever existed, which felt gratuitous at times. I did think it was well written and engaging, and I cared about Sal and the narrator and Grand. But

the ending was extremely sad, and I felt like there were a lot of unanswered questions about how Sal knew things. And the reveal at the end about his kidnapping felt a little bit rushed/out of the blue. Also, I felt like there wasn’t really much lead up to the narrator being queer,

and sometimes the jumps between his future/old self and the main timeline felt confusing. Most of the future timeline could’ve been left out in my opinion. But maybe that’s also partially because I read this book very quickly in preparation for a book club. Other reviewers make very valid points about

it feeling messed up that the conclusion of the book is essentially absolving the white perpetrators of the lynching and treating Sal as a “magical minority” trope instead of a little boy. Also it didn’t sit right with me that the narrator chose not to end his friend’s suffering but to be a “hero” killing the bad guy…

The relationship between Sal and Grand leading up to his suicide was heartbreaking and hit a bit close to home for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Abandonment

aude's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity and Pedophilia

littlelizzieborden's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

doppy's review against another edition

emotional tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Murder

scenic92's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

divafern's review against another edition

Absolutely maudlin. Without going too far into it, it tries to do too much. The writing is interesting in some places and yet liberally peppered with laughably bad metaphors and tired stereotypes. Just see the list of content warnings to get a feel for the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

epiphylium's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

This is my favourite non-fiction novel that I have ever read. Tiffany's writing style is absolutely stunning, a mixture of prose, poetry, and metaphors that I just adore. There was no unnecessary words, everything felt like it was there for a reason and I've revisited this story a few times now, and I feel the same if not stronger about her talent every time.

The premise of the novel, to put briefly, is it is one of the hottest summers to ever be recorded in this town and Fielding's father, invites the devil to come. When his invitation is accepted, the devil comes to town not with horns and a tail, but in the body of a 13 year old black boy.

Some of my favourite things about the book includes the way it was set up. It is narrated by an older Fielding who is reflecting on parts of his life post 1984, which helps propel the story of that summer forward, leading up to everything that happens. You can tell that something has happened, as Fielding is so broken and guilt ridden that you can tell he has experienced a lot of traumatic events, but we don't know what they are until we progress through the novel.

This isn't a long novel, only a little over 300 pages, but the author covers so many important issues: racism, homophobia (during the AIDS outbreak in the 1980s), child abuse (incl rape, but mentioned briefly), religion, mob mentality, agoraphobia. Although set 4 decades ago now, these issues are still so prevalent today and it's something we should all care about and actively try and use our privilege to advocate for.

I can understand that because of the heavy themes in this novel that it is not for everyone, and like a previous reviewer, oczerniecka has said "It is hard for me to express how I could love a book that is depicting the most heinous aspects of human nature. This story moved me and showed me all the different sides of the issues that are brought up in the story. The characters affected by the events of the summer are complicated, and you cannot say if they are good or bad. Because when you choose to brand someone as bad, you are throwing off all the good about the person. And the same go with marking someone as good, you may not see the evil that is within the person. Read this deeply moving and sad story; this may shatter you and make you weep, and sometimes books should do just that."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

sarahasyouwish's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

This is the story of a man in an Appalachian town in Ohio printing an open invitation for the devil to come visit him and what happened when the devil accepted. You may (or may not) be surprised to find out that rather than the devil bringing evil with him, he simply exposed the evil that was already deeply rooted in that town. This is a literary novel with absolutely beautiful writing and characters who refuse to stay on the page. They absolutely come to life along with the sweltering heat in this novel, and they will most certainly burrow a place into your heart. I know they did for me. McDaniels is an amazing writer with a gift for telling eternal stories about small town people and the big world truths they live. She has quickly become an all-time favorite author of mine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, and Vomit