Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Croc fendu by Sophie Voillot, Jaime Hernández, Tanya Tagaq

67 reviews

abookishlesbian's review against another edition

5.0

Speechless. This was not an easy read, it forces you to confront the brutality of life in such a beautiful yet disorienting way. Tagaq does not spare the pain or the horror, but cradles you in moments of love, beauty, and laughter. The way she was able to express hard hitting topics such as child abuse, sexual abuse, addiction, etc through a combination of memoir, magical realism, and poetry, i experienced more emotional whiplash from this work of art than anything I've read in a very long time. This was truly a book I will never forget, and one I'd highly recommend but please proceed with caution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, and Vomit

loganmedrano's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, and Suicide attempt

lailybibliography's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Arqsarniq. I sing for you. Humming shakily at first, thin tendrils of sound. The trepidation dissolves and a throbbing vibratory expulsion of sound emerges. Thicker, richer, heavier. Sound is its own currency. Sound is a conduit to a realm we cannot totally comprehend. 

Devastating, powerful, heartbreaking. I’m genuinely at a loss for words at the horrific beauty of Tanya Tagaq’s Nunavut and the near-mythic, brutal nature of life in the Great North. Humanity stripped to its barest essence, Tagaq describes a world where the material and spiritual coexist in violent harmony; where the Northern Lights are an everyday occurrence intervening in the lives of those living underneath its luminescence. One where the frigid cold and perpetual winter darkness renders lays bare the dispassionate, carnivorous soul of humankind fighting for its survival against foxes and bears and other assorted creatures all desperate to scratch out a sliver of an existence in an unforgiving environment.

The life Tagaq describes would be unbelievable to anybody living outside the Arctic circle. There’s a general air of chaos and danger permeating even the simplest of events. There’s no pretence of innocent to shield children from the cruelties of adulthood. Alcoholism and substance abuse runs rampant, and sexual abuse of children is so prevalent that Tagaq feels insecure when schoolteachers molest her some female classmates before her. There’s a definite whiplash that comes with reading about, say, institutionalized sexual abuse of children, then immediately moving on to visions of ancient folklore rendered in aurorae and astral projections with ancestors and descendants across time.

I could honestly go on and on raving about the gorgeous prose and heart-pounding narrative Tagaq weaves here. This should be considered a modern Canadian classic, required reading in our high school and university curricula. My favourite read of 2024 so far.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

Minor: Genocide and Colonisation

birdsandships's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Such a challenging, gut wrenching book. Disorienting, disturbing, enchanting magical realism. The audio book adds a lot to the experience as Tagaq reads it herself with interludes of throat singing. Very non-linear. One that is going to stay with me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

wanderonwards's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

2.0

This is probably one I should not have picked up, but here we are. While the poetry itself was often stunning (and, if you are going to pick this up, I definitely recommend the audiobook version read by the author), there was just so much else I didn't enjoy. Other reviewers have mentioned that they'd be interested in reading more poetry by this author but not another novel, and that's kind of how I feel after finishing this blend of both.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

wamboldt_t's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

msmarlena's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

wittchyn's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Suicide, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Colonisation

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Rape, and Suicide attempt

shelise3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

kmerrow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense

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

5.0

No one who can listen to the audiobook should be doing anything but that. I'm sure it is an interesting read, but the audio is something other-wordly. I have never heard someone give themselves entirely to an audiobook in this way, and most if not all chapters are lead out by Tanya Tagaq's throat singing. She imbues the words with so much emotion and her tone shifts appropriately throughout. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to listen to this book read by the author.

Note: it is NSFW or literally any other environment so you want to listen with headphones on or somewhere with thick walls.

That being said, this is undoubtedly the weirdest, most fucked up thing I've ever read. And I mean that as a term of endearment. It also makes it fucking real. This writing is unapologetic. She writes in such a poetic and at times whimsical way, sometimes about truly horrific things. It is fantastical while also dealing with very hard realities like child sexual abuse, which is an overriding theme. It is extremely sexually explicit, whether detailing abuse, consensual sex, sex with animals, and even the northern lights.

If you're easily offended or squeamish, this is not the one for you, but I'd still recommend it to you because it's unforgettable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, and Colonisation