Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

3 reviews

decklededgess's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

trigger warnings: injury and injury detail, animal abuse and death, sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, alcohol and alcoholism, racism and bigotry, confinement, deportation, death of parent

This book is such an important read. It's heartbreaking yet hopeful and forces you to see the struggle of immigration from the eyes of people who have to deal with public vitriol for being immigrants during a time where xenophobia was at its worst. This book focuses on the struggles of one family as they immigrate, get broken apart due to deportation and their struggle to reunite. The timeline hops all over the place as it gives context and fills you in on the questions of how, why, where, and so on.

Beautifully done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Bullying, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Racism, Hate crime, and Grief

exmareadastra's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Rape, Child abuse, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Violence

Minor: Mass/school shootings, War, Violence, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Bullying

kylieqrada's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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

4.5

I don't feel qualified to review this book, but I will give it my best shot. I read this in one sitting. It was not an easy read, but it was a beautifully written and a necessary one. It is a very character-driven look at the immigrant experience, through the lens of one Colombian family. We get multiple points of view, mostly from Talia, the family's youngest daughter, but also from Mauro, the father, Elena, the mother, and Karina and Nando, the other two siblings. Mauro and Talia are together in Columbia, and Elena, Karina, and Nando are together in the U.S. The different POVs allow us to explore the immigration experience from multiple angles, and to understand that "the immigrant" is not a monolith. Particularly, the "undocumented immigrant" is not a monolith. Characters in the book are U.S. citizens, undocumented immigrants, Colombian citizens, and dual citizens. I can't necessarily say that I enjoyed the reading experience of this book, but I did learn a lot, and I think that Patricia Engel is a stunningly gorgeous writer. I docked half of a star for fatphobic content. This book contains a lot of potentially harmful content, so please check CWs before reading. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Dementia, Fatphobia, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Rape, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Grief