Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

32 reviews

abbie_'s review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

I picked up this copy of Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat secondhand, not realising that it was filled with someone else’s underlinings and notes in the margins. While I find it interesting to see other people’s thoughts (when I can decipher the handwriting), I find my eyes flicking to the annotations far too often and it takes me out of the story. I genuinely have a hard time remembering much about this book that I read two weeks ago because most of what I could concentrate on was the previous reader’s fixation on Danticat’s use of colours 🥲

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I do remember enough to tell you that this is a harrowing read filled with sadness. It explores mother-daughter relationships, examining how trauma is passed down from generation to generation. Sophie grows up in Haiti with her aunt after her mother moves to the US, and when she eventually sends for her, both women are forced to confront the past which still haunts them. It’s a very difficult read, with rape, sexual trauma and self-mutilation all playing a part, but I found it especially difficult to read the parts where mothers inflict the same violences they experienced at the hands of their mothers on their daughters, despite recognising the irreversible damage it will leave/did leave on them. The cycles are hard to break, but the ending (‘Ou libéré? Are you free, my daughter?’) does offer a small glimmer of hope.

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Despite the overwhelming pain of this novel, I’d quite like to read it again, with a clean copy this time, as I don’t feel I gave it the benefit of my full attention with all the annotations!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

arbitrary_convenience's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

Please don’t read this if you have sexual trauma, because that’s a big theme here. 
It wasn’t something I would read for fun or relaxation so much as for perspective. I think it shows the effects of how your childhood shapes you as an adult. It was hard to read at some times because of its themes and I did have to put it down for a while and come back to it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

sillyduckie's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Colonisation

katie69's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Abortion, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

tina94's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Police brutality, Abortion, and Death of parent

Moderate: Fatphobia and Grief

gurofl's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Eating disorder

curlymango's review

challenging reflective sad medium-paced

I’m not sure whether I can give this a rating, because I don’t think it would really reflect how I felt during and after this read. At times I was deeply uncomfortable; I felt like I was intruding into the darkest sides of the characters’ intimate, complex relationships. But of course that’s the core of the book: untangling matters of womanhood, motherhood, generational trauma, sexual violence, heritage, and death. What struck me most was the gentle simplicity of Danticat’s prose and how she weaves such brutal topics into Sophie’s story, without it necessarily feeling gratuitous. Quite haunting, though. I’m still thinking about the final passage and don’t know whether to feel hopeful or hopeless about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Suicide

Moderate: Death and Rape

bookshopvampire's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Blood

bookreviewswithkb's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

4.5 ✨

will make you cry 

literary fiction 

#readcaribbeanmonth pick

what do we miss out on when womens’ worth is determined by their virginity, their perceived wholeness, never having been touched? what do we miss out on when womens’ worth is determined by their cooking skills, how they bake and wash and iron and scrub? what do we miss out on when womens’ worth is tied to being a mother? what do we miss out on when women themselves believe their worth is tied to what they can give to others through their bodies, and they pass this on to their own daughters, and they never have the chance to heal from the trauma they’ve experienced? what do we miss out on…

“there is always a place where women live near trees that, blowing in the wind, sound like music. these women tell stories to their children both to frighten and delight them. these women, they are fluttering lanterns on the hills, the fireflies in the night, the faces that loom over you and recreate the same unspeakable acts they themselves lived through.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Eating disorder, Rape, and Abandonment

nonfictionfeminist's review

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Abortion, and Death of parent