Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow

12 reviews

lilyp04's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Mental illness, Child abuse, Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Self harm, and Domestic abuse

anniereads221's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Vomit, Bullying, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Sexual assault, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Racism

HP reference

proudtobeabookaholic's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

4.0

It's always been just Tiger and her mother June. A well-oiled mother and daughter team. Until her mom suddenly dies and leaves Tiger all alone. How does one survive such a thing?

This is primarly a book about grief. Grief expresses itself in different ways, and for Tiger it leads to an ocean of tears, an inability to eat, and a refusal to take off the dress her mother bought her, although Tiger hates it. The author is very skilled at describing how Tiger manages her grief, but that also makes it pretty hard to read. At first I find it a bit repetitive and too much rumination about the same things. But the more I read, the more Tiger comes to life.

Tiger is 16 years old, but often acts like she's at least a couple of years younger. June has been very overprotective and never let her go to parties or camps, or meet boys, and that could well be why Tiger feels younger. The two of them have been an almost isolated unit, and I believe that makes June's death even worse for Tiger. There's no safety net and she ends up in the system with foster care. There she discovers that there are children whose parents have abused them, or simply didn't care about them; the opposite of what Tiger has experienced. Apart from her mom's refusal to tell her about her father, so Tiger doesn't know anything about him, or if he's alive. 

It's no exaggeration that Tiger's world is turned upside down by her mom's death. She becomes a part of a world she's never known, going to and from different foster homes, until they can find a permanent solution. The author shows us both good and bad places, good and bad foster parents - just like it is in the real world. It's an emotional and sometimes tough read, but very beautifully written. I went from thinking the book dragged on somewhat, to not wanting it to end!

"All your life, you've loved words and language, even if you aren't great at school. You've loved weird words and smart words and beautiful words and awkward words, all of them. Podunk. Mastermind. Effluvium. Macrosomatic. Hullabaloo. 

But there isn't a single word in the universe that you can think of that would describe the way you feel right now."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Abandonment, Bullying, Death of parent, Vomit, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Abortion, and Toxic relationship

josiebug's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative 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

3.5

I liked it way more than girl in pieces, not sure why it’s less popular 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Death, Cancer, Alcohol, Mental illness, Death of parent, Addiction, Stalking, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Self harm

Moderate: Infidelity, Abortion, and Bullying

ellasara's review against another edition

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? No

5.0

waaaaaaaaaa niin hyvä ja niin surullinen, en jotenkin aatellut että tykkäisin tästä näin paljon ??? ajattelin tätä koko ajan ja en halunnut tehdä mitään muuta kuin lukea tätä. suunnilleen aina kun luin tätä mä kuuntelin lamp genso albumia ja se oli jotenkin täydellistä, ne kappaleet onnistui osumaan juuri oikeanlaisiin kohtiin kirjassa. 
 mutta niin oli kivuliasta lukee tätä mun sydän särkyi koko ajan

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Violence

Moderate: Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

miiareads's review

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Car accident

Minor: Drug use, Violence, Pregnancy, Blood, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Self harm, and Child abuse

michaela999's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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: Death of parent, Death, Grief, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

lookingforace's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Self harm, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Minor: Abortion, Addiction, and Eating disorder

anielabooks's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book was definitely a book about the grieving process. I suggest anyone considering reading this book to check  the trigger warnings beforehand. While I was not the target audience Glasgow wrote for, I did find this book very important; I think everyone should expose themselves to this type of writing at least once in their lives. In my experience reading “How to Make Friends With the Dark” I learned so much about the foster system, among other parts of the lives of orphaned teenagers. This book truly leaves you seeing people differently and wondering who around you could have a difficult life at home.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, Car accident, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Excrement, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Gun violence, Racism, Terminal illness, Abortion, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Vomit, Lesbophobia, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Child death, Cursing, and Eating disorder

durrareadsstuff's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad fast-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

4.25

It would be nice if once, someone would just say, “Girl, you are in the shit and you will not be getting out soon. So here's how to make friends with the dark."

NEW FAVOURITE BOOK! 💯💖💖💖

Make sure to look at the content warnings first though, cause it gets pretty messed up. This book has a WHOLE LOT of childhood trauma in it too. 

First of all, the writing is STUNNING 💫 I think Kathleen Glasgow is on her way to becoming my favourite author. She just hits all the right spots for me. All the metaphors being repeated throughout the book e.g. girl-bug, the grand canyon sized hole, being sucked into a black hole. The way she writes all these devastating scenes makes it all the more sad. Truly, truly amazing. 

Now, I'm gonna be honest with you, I wasn't really a fan of Tiger in the beginning. But her character growth was so incredible. And just seeing how she went from goody-two-shoes to going to juvie to picking herself back up again—that was just WOW. Tiger really went through A LOT and that moment at the end when she sort of regained hope? My heart is a puddle bye 😭💓

I also liked that there was barely any romance in here, cause really, that was not the point. Instead, we get to see a whole lot of friendships. Like how Tiger's and Cakes's grew deeper. And how she found new unexpected friends like Lupe and Mae-Lynn. And the SISTERHOOD?? JUST WOW. I think the author has a knack of turning the characters I hate to making me think twice about them and teach me to not be so judgmental. Shayna turned out to be a pretty cool sister. And she's trying her best. 

I liked how the book tells you about horrible adults and parents but also the adults who care and are trying their best to help them. Most of all and kind of obviously, it teaches you a lot about grief. How you never really move on, you never really patch up that hole in your heart. You just find a way to keep living like that. 

My review with my very limited vocabulary and above average writing skills will never do this book justice. I think it was, well, not perfect because I'm kind of unsatisfied with how we left things with Kai, but yeah it was very very nearly perfect ✨💫💥♥️♥️♥️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Toxic relationship