Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Shark Heart by Emily Habeck

34 reviews

emilywemily6's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

This was weird and intriguing and I couldn’t put this book down. I loved how the book has some theatrical scenes sprinkled in. I could really see how Lewis and Wren fell for each other, they loved each other so much. I loved the prose and the questions it brought up (explicitly or implicitly) about love, change, and terminal illness. While I appreciated Angela’s story, I wish it hadn’t felt so separate from Lewis and Wren’s story; it kind of took me out of the book a little, especially with how much time was spent on Angela’s life before Wren was born. Though by the end of that section I saw how it was all connected; I wish the author had taken a different direction in connecting these stories together. And I loved the ending but wanted more! I will think about this book for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kase1190's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

kmilazzo's review against another edition

challenging hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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

5.0

You know it’s going to be a good book when it makes you tear up in the first 2 pages. I would’ve never expected to fall in love with a story about a man turning into a shark but here I am! What a creative, gut-wrenching, thoughtful, and intricate story that manages to evoke so many heavy feelings in such a careful way. The author takes some creative liberties with form throughout that are somehow cohesive and help the story come together. This one is the definition of “trust the process.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail

tarynimwalle's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

My favorite book of 2023. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death and Abortion

dcoul's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Abortion

angievansprang's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book was totally unexpected. It was a bit weird to get into at first, but once I grasped the concept, I couldn’t put it down. I was very invested in all of the characters and I had to know what would come of them. Wren felt all too familiar to me by her structured ways of living and proclivity for perfectionism. I will be thinking about this book and it’s many lessons for quite some time to come. Overall, I think it ended on a hopeful note and I LOVE when a book that tackles deeper, darker themes is able to accomplish that. I would love to read more from Emily Habeck. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Physical abuse

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

cait's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Self harm, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

fkshg8465's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Hard to say how I feel about this book. I think the closest I can get to it is that it’s bittersweet. Love lost, family lost, family created, love found, metamorphoses, letting go, hope - these are all the things the book is about. Dispute its many unresolved issues, the ending still provides a kind of unexpected closure. The only open question for me is whether or why or how Wren is a common denominator no one in the book considers. Three people in her life, two of whom she loved dearly, end up with illnesses that are presumably extremely rare. Yet she knows three such people. So what is she doing to be on the receiving end of that so many times?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, and Death of parent

queenkath32's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Grief

luverbyrd's review against another edition

emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective sad 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Chronic illness, Death, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Abortion, and Pregnancy