Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

109 reviews

edentiefling's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

lprelei's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.25

the ending bumped it up a full extra star for me

“Dear God. Not only am I unemployed and homeless, but I also have a pregnant woman, bereaved dog, elephant, and eleven horses to take care of.” (Gruen, p.317) 

the twist concerning rosie landed veryyy satisfyingly. also the fact that the majority of the book’s plot took place over just 3 and a half months is insane. i love a book that weaves in its ends. wish i could love marlena’s character a bit more though! 

“And then I laugh, because it’s so ridiculous and so gorgeous and it’s all I can do to not melt into a fit of giggles. So what if I’m ninety-three? So what if I’m ancient and cranky and my body’s a wreck? If they’re willing to accept me and my guilty conscience, why the hell shouldn’t I run away with the circus?” (Gruen, p.331)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

Minor: Vomit

sierrajhansen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

this was slow to start for me, but i started really getting into it about 1/3 of the way through. the story was very immersive and i kept forgetting i was reading! i especially loved the animal characters, but the amount of violence/animal cruelty/pain/suffering/abuse throughout the story threw me for a loop. a great circus story and an interesting ending

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

dancingprince's review against another edition

Mainly it made me sad, and I wasn't invested in a plot because there wasn't a clear through line to follow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

poodlemama99's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty

celery's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

alyssatuininga's review against another edition

dark informative sad slow-paced

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

2.5

I have had this book for years and never got around to reading it. The story was all over the place- a sweet story of memories from an old man, a scathing story about the rampant (graphic) animal abuse in a circus, a romance,  a sad testament to the dangers of Prohibition for alcoholics. Honestly throw in the super raunchy prostitution and rape of the main character and I didn't know what to feel or think. It was a strange book, the ending wrapped up in a neat sweet bow. Overall it was just ok and I kept finding I didn't want to pick it up. Guess I should have left this one on the shelf.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, and Death of parent

sophtank's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Gore

kathrynwendt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

nikoleh's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty