Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent

52 reviews

leweylibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

This is one of the just wild books I have ever read. There are scenes in this book that will never leave my brain no matter how much I want them to, and I'm not really sure how to feel about that?

Lol listen the characters were a bit hard for me to connect with, and I'm not sure I love the ending, and I was expecting something totally different but I also don't know why I was? I feel like this book left me with so many more questions than answers 😅 BUT it has stuck in my brain which is very difficult for a book to do.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Mass/school shootings, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism

varo's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Death and Kidnapping

laura_cat's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Perhaps the most deeply disturbing book I’ve ever read. This book has extremely graphic descriptions of violence and cruelty and I had to skip ahead at times to avoid some of them. I am relieved to be finished with the book. It’s well-written but I’m not convinced that all of the scenes and disturbing imagery were necessary, and I wonder if this detracted from the impact.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

teadragon's review against another edition

I firmly believe that the author has never talked to a teenager nor a rape victim.  The dialog throughout the 301 pages I read was unrealistic.  I was absolutely disgusted at how he describes the rape scenes.  It was like he was writing scenes for a romance novel, not about incest between a daughter and her father.  Could not finish.  Made my blood boil.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Alcohol

mi_chellewong's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

the most gut-wrenching book i’ve read in a really long time. this book actually insane.

turtle’s stockholm syndrome combined with the utter terror of a monster that is her father make this book so incredibly terrifying and sad

and yet i could not put it down because i needed to know that turtle would be okay. the way tallent writes turtle’s thoughts and how she

begins to reshape her beliefs

is so beautifully and tragically done. the two things i would say about this book- i feel like the last chapter was missing something. maybe it’s my own want for a tidy ending but even then it felt like it left too many things unsaid. also, what high schooler talks like brett and jacob do 😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

amessina3399's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Wow. What beautiful language, and what a masterfully told and utterly heart wrenching tale. While not told in the first person, this story paints  such a viscerally clear picture of what it’s like being in an abusive relationship, and why it can be so hard to leave. The only thing stopping me from giving a full 5 stars is the ending—it was a great ending, don’t get me wrong, but it left a lot of holes open that were set up earlier in the book to seemingly be revisited. So while I was disappointed with its conclusion, it was overall a fantastic read that I highly recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

emmasxph's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This book should come with trigger warnings 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

maybak's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

C’est un livre qui ne laissera personne indifférent. J’ai trouvé les 70 premières pages difficiles à lire d’un point de vue émotionnel car on comprend rapidement

qu’il s’agit d’un père incestueux et que Julia Alveston alias Turtle est une ado maltraitée et en décrochage scolaire.

Sa mère est morte dans des circonstances peu claires et elle a grandit avec Martin, son père survivaliste, alcoolique et féru d’armes à feux. Son grand-père, Daniel, vit tout près d’eux dans son mobile home avec sa chienne âgée Rosy mais son fils et lui sont loin d’être en bons termes.

Turtle vit dans des conditions difficiles et elle est victime d’abus aussi bien émotionnels que physiques.

L’auteur a très bien su retranscrire comment une enfant maltraitée et qui n’a pas d’autres points de repères fait pour rationaliser les sévices qu’elle subit et à quel point il lui est difficile de tracer une ligne entre ce qui est normal et ce qui ne l’est pas. 

Turtle prend conscience du fossé entre son enfance et l’enfance des autres enfants lorsqu’elle fait la connaissance de Brett et Jacob. La mère de Brett était une amie de la mère de Julia et on sent qu’elle se fait du souci pour elle car elle connaît bien son père. Jacob vit une vie radicalement différente de celle de Turtle. Ses parents sont aisés, éduqués et souvent absents. J’ai aimé comment Gabriel Tallent a su montrer que la communauté tente d’aider Julia comme elle peut à travers les personnages d’Anna, la prof de Turtle, de Jacob, Brett et leurs familles. Il a également su montrer à quel point il est facile pour des enfants maltraités de passer entre les mailles du filet

car personne dans l’entourage de Julia ne se rend compte que son père l’a abandonnée pendant 3 mois, après le décès fracassant du grand-père de Julia.

Le roman est fort en émotions, plutôt graphique par moments et j’ai trouvé la deuxième moitié plus entraînante. Le rythme et l’intrigue s’intensifient et on est tenu en haleine en se demandant comment les choses vont finir pour Turtle et la petite Cayenne. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

aubreyferris's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

brieflyblue's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

When I bought this book, I read the summary on the back and thought it would be a relatively lighthearted story. I could not have been more wrong. I can say, with the utmost confidence, that this was my toughest read since Lolita. Words cannot possibly do justice to my feelings in this moment. All I know is that it’s 2 A.M. and I need to vent a bit.

First, I will never understand why so many male authors write stories like this. What fascinates them so much about female suffering, and why do they seem to think they are the best people to tell these stories? It feels voyeuristic.

Martin is the worst, and I know that’s probably written intentionally, but dear god. The first 1/2 to 2/3 of this book feels slow. Call it “setting the tone” or whatever, but by the time the action started I was just so tired of Martin running his mouth and waxing poetic about how everyone and everything is terrible and how badly he wants to

kill his daughter.

Turtle is an interesting character, I’ll give you that. Her psychology and growth is the only saving grace of this novel. She is simultaneously self-aware and entirely deluded by her father’s influence. She loves and hates him. I like that she was not some perfect, meek victim, but instead someone who struggled with moral/ethical dilemmas regarding her father’s behavior and chose to act—if imperfectly.

In short, I would not recommend this book. It contains nothing that you couldn’t find elsewhere.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Moderate: War